EX LIBRTS
The Cooper Union
Musemn Library
THE GIFT OF
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OUSES
BEING A SERIES OF
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C^kkattb Pomts in t)^t Mmttii States
WITH
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A Description of the Art treasures contained therein
NEW YORK
PRINTED FOR THE SUBSCRIBERS
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
MDCCCLXXXIII
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COPYRIGHT BY
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
1882.
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ARTISTIC HOUSES
Edition limited to 500 copies
No. 85
Printed for Mr. DAVID JAMES KING, New York
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EXPLANATORY NOTE.
With the present issue of the tenth section, " Artistic Houses " is
completed, and the publishers feel disposed to congratulate themselves
on the termination of a work that has engaged the kind offices of so
many contributors for more than two years. That every one of the
two hundred plates in this portfolio is the most nearly perfect specimen
of its kind in the United States they do not profess to believe, but
that the collection as a whole is the worthiest extant representative of
the triumphs of contemporaneous American interior architecture and
decoration they are assured, not only by their own conviction, but by
the testimony of American architects themselves, and of foreign archi-
tects who, especially in Paris, have expressed their delight and surprise
at the revelations made by some of these pictures.
The difficulties of producing such a work as this are best known,
of course, to the publishers themselves. Each plate in the series has
been secured through the courtesy of the owner of the house of which
it depicts a part, and in many instances, very naturally, this consent
was not thrust upon the attention of those who sought it. The strictly
private nature of the enterprise — it being in a sense the exclusive
property of its five hundred subscribers — lent welcome assistance to
the prosecution of it; and the generous co-operation of the subscribers
was an encouragement, without the expectation of which the task would
not have been attempted. But, notwithstanding these pleasant general
features, the special perplexities, obstacles, and discouragements have
been much more numerous than the unprofessional reader would sur-
mise. In the effort to obtain adequate representations of these nearly
ten
Explanatory Note.
ten score rooms the photographer has tried far more than ten score
times, and when, after repeated efforts with a single negative, a satis-
factory result has been reached, his skill and labor have often come to
naught because the plate has been broken in transit, or because the
owner of the house has signified his preference for another point of
view. Some of the negatives, after receiving the approbation of both
publishers and patron, have turned out to be useless when submitted to
the phototype process, and it was necessary to begin over again with
the work of the camera, as much to the inconvenience of the patron
as to the financial loss of the publishers. When at length a phototype
impression was made and submitted to the latter, a delay of weeks
might occur before the suggestions of the art-editor could be carried
out in the interests of perfection of reproduction. In fact, next to the
enormous expense of producing this extended work, the numerous and
vexatious delays are, in the memory of the publishers, the most con-
spicuous features of the undertaking. Sometimes it has seemed as if
the Fates themselves were in league against the appearance of a dilatory
section.
But these things are now of the past, and, in presenting the com-
pleted "Artistic Houses" to the subscribers, the publishers acknowledge,
with grateful feelings, the hearty and unfailing co-operation it has
received from the leading architects of the United States, who, in a
hundred ways, have lent their services to its success. They venture to
believe that the presentation it makes of the beauty and comfort of the
American home will be a lasting and most honorable memorial of the
genius that inspired them. The domestic architecture of no nation in
the world can show trophies more original, affluent, or admirable.
Artistic Houses
BEING A SERIES OF
Inkrbr 0kfos of a numkr of tl^t SJast S^auttful antr
CfUhaktr Pomts in % itmtftr States
WITH
^ Description of the Art Treasures contained therein
VOLUME ONE.— PART I
NEW YORK
PRINTED FOR THE SUBSCRIBERS
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
MDCCCLXXXIII
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CONTENTS AND LIST OF PLATES.
VOLUME ONE.— PART I.
MR. LOUIS C. TIFFANY'S ROOMS - - - - - i
HALL.
LIBRARY.
DINING-ROOM.
DRAWING-ROOM.
MRS. A. T. STEWART'S HOUSE ----- 7
HALL.
RECEPTION-ROOM.
\
LIBRARY.
MUSIC-ROOM.
DRAWING-ROOM.
PICTURE-GALLERY.
PICTURE-GALLERY (Second View).
BEDROOM.
GENERAL GRANT'S HOUSE ------ 19
PARLOR.
LIBRARY.
MR. DAVID L. EINSTEIN'S HOUSE - - - - - 25
MAIN HALL.
HALL AND STAIRCASE.
ENTRANCE-HALL.
DINING-ROOM. •
LIBRARY.
BOUDOIR.
MR. GEORGE F. BAKER'S HOUSE - - - - - 35
HALL.
DINING-HALL
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Artistic Houses.
JUDGE HENRY HILTON'S HOUSE -
GRAND SALON.
DINING-ROOM.
MR. FREDERICK F. THOMPSON'S HOUSE
HALL.
HALL AND STAIRWAY.
DRAWING-ROOM.
LIBRARY.
DINING-ROOM.
DINING-ROOM, WITH CONSERVATORY.
MR. GEORGE KEMP'S HOUSE -
HALL.
SALON.
DINING-ROOM.
LIBRARY.
39
- 47
S3
MR. F. W. HURTT'S HOUSE
PARLOR.
LIBRARY.
57
MRS. JOHN A. ZEREGA'S HOUSE
DRAWING-ROOM.
DRAWING-ROOM (Second View).
DINING-ROOM.
6i
MR. OSWALD OTTENDORFER'S PAVILION
MOORISH PAVILION.
- 67
MR. W. G. DOMINICK'S HOUSE
DINING-ROOM.
- 71
MR. J. PIERPONT MORGAN'S HOUSE
STAIRCASE.
STAIRCASE (Second View).
DRAWING-ROOM.
LIBRARY.
DINING-ROOM.
- 75
MR. EDWARD N. DICKERSON'S HOUSE -
- 81
DRAWING-ROOM.
LIBRARY.
DINING-ROOM.
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I
MR. LOUIS C. TIFFANY'S ROOMS.
Mr. Tiffany's flat, in East Twenty-sixth Street, has special interest
as an exposition of his views on the subject of the interior decoration of
houses. It was by the effort to overcome the difficulties presented by
his apartments, in their crude and raw state, that this artist was led into
the systematic study of the principles of the profession which he is now
practicing. The chief apartment is the drawing-room, and here the ^^J.^^;^^'-
visitor encounters one phase of that very delicate Moorish decoration
which, in Mr. Tiffany's judgment, is best suited to such a place. By
Moorish decoration the reader is to understand, not a copy of anything
that ever has existed or still exists, but only a general feeling for a par-
ticular type. The effort has been in direct opposition to external fidel-
ity to an original. All that was striven for was a simple suggestion of
the ancient Moorish style, the artist believing that an entire rendering ^;;;^^^
of it, or of any other, would have belittled him, besides being impos-
sible ; for something of its spirit would necessarily have escaped him in
these later days, when his environment is so different from that of the
Moorish decorator himself. Throughout Mr. Tiffany's rooms, indeed, the
visitor will be struck by the absence of any token of servile imitation.
A variety of styles present themselves, but not one of them is a copy.
In this drawing-room, for instance, the Moorish feeling has received a
dash of East Indian, and the wall-papers and ceiling-papers are Japan-
ese, but there is a unity that binds everything into an ensemble^ and
the spirit of that. unity is delicacy.
Let us look at these paper-hangings. The tone of the ceiling is
buff with blotches of mica, the latter shining much more brightly than
silver,
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Artistic Houses.
silver, and being so admirably adapted to its purpose that attempts —
unsuccessful as yet — have been made by American manufacturers to use
it in the execution of their wall-paper designs. The secret still remains
'^ali^^^^ with the artistic Japanese, who, in addition to making a wall-paper
paper. much finer than the heaviest French specimens, have the faculty of so
working in the flat that the material always looks like paper, and always
expresses the quality of paper, and not of anything else. On the east
side of the room, the ceiling comes down two or three feet to the
frieze; on the west side, its paper melts into another variety, and pro-
duces its own special effect.
The prevailing ground of the walls is pink, and it is curious and
interesting to note how pleasantly this tint supports the hues of a water-
color picture by Mr. Tiffany — the " Cobblers of Bouffarik " — which
hangs in a wide frame of very low-relief The artist has tried to keep
Relation of ^^ whole work, frame and picture, flat, as a part of the wall, and, by
its sur- so doing, to prevent the picture from disturbing the line or color scheme
of that part of the room, and from missing the needed light which a
projecting frame would have shut off\ He desired that the picture, so
hung, should look better, should have more to say for itself, than if
placed elsewhere, or otherwise. He purposed that it should enter into
the general scheme of its surroundings, and be at rest; in other words,
that it should meet the fundamental artistic requirement of repose. It
is self-contained and serene, and its environment ministers to its peace.
A screen with light Moorish columns separates the drawing-room
from the hall, and between the columns are curtains of old Japanese
stuffs, hung by light brass rings on light brass rods — so light that the
weight causes them to sag. From a yellow against a blue below, the
scheme of color of these curtains rises through a series of more and
more delicate tones into a neutral, broad effect of lattice-work of linen
cord, partly hidden by a fringe of the same material. The sagging of
the brass rods is considered appropriate and natural, and the columns
and the curtains go together admirably.
The four long windows on the north side, which the artist found
when
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I.::^—
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Mr. Louis C. Tiffany's Rooms.
when he began to decorate the room, and which, had he been con-
sulted by the architect, would have been one double window, leaving Tr^"'"'
the wall less cut up, and the lights and shadows less broken, have been dows.
dealt with in part. Two of them are treated together, by running
across their tops a wide band of stained-glass work, and across their
bottoms a comfortable divan, where the guest sits under shadow. An-
other difficulty, caused by the enforced presence of part of the division-
wall which once made two rooms of the present drawing-room, has
been met by covering it with an immense mirror, whose service in pro-
ducing a sense of enlargement is wonderful. The principal cabinet is
made almost entirely of glass with the purpose of displaying its con-
tents instead of hiding them, as is so often done. Mr. Tiffany seems
to have said to himself: " My cabinet is to contain some important TA.^?^^^"
curiosities, which are too interesting to be hid. I will construct it, cabinet.
therefore, of material adapted to show its contents, and I will not have
it so fine that people will look at it rather than at what is in it."
The short, unobtrusive legs are covered with silvered metal. In con-
structing the mantel, the idea was to get as large a fire-place as possi-
ble; and, as the presence of a flue forbade the widening of the opening
already there, Mr. Tiffany made his mantel long and wide, building it
up to the ceiling, and increasing the effect of the fire-place by cover-
ing the wall just above it with many sheets of mica, through which
the light from the fire glistens. A pair of old brass andirons, with
round tops, smile on the hearth. The mantel is faced with tiles, and
its shelves are laden with pottery and porcelains. «
Step into the hall, and the contrast is intense. You have gone TA. hall.
from delicacy into roughness. The wood-work, desired to be in a tone
that would seem vigorous in a half-light, was painted a bright red;
and the half-light effect obtained by perforating a circular burner so
many times that the gas would come through it flickering, like the
flame of a torch. The steady light of the drawing-room is replaced
by a light mysterious and undefined, because the idea was to produce
an impression of mystery and indefiniteness ; and the color in this semi-
dark
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Artistic Houses.
dark place is kept agreeable by being kept warm. The rough pine-
wood of the beams of the ceiling is gouged in many places, and orna-
mented with heavy nail-heads, to make it rougher still. The stained
glass-work consists of very rough pieces; and the old Flemish tapestry
that hangs at the entrance to the dining-room is rough, too, in execu-
tion and design. It is easy to see that in this small hall Mr. Tiffany
has made himself felt; and one notable feature of it is that the ex-
pense has been next to nothing.
W.>^%. We leave it for the dining-room. Here the furniture of American
oak, with its fine blotches of grain, and Japanese mushroom wall-paper,
with ceiling to carry out a sort of tiling with blue plaques, impress by
their simplicity and by a certain strangeness, as if the host had sedu-
lously endeavored to express himself, irrespective of other men, and had
done so, all the while, under the restraining influence of a liberal edu-
cation. A small, hanging cabinet made of the embroidered leather of
an old Spanish trunk, is decorated generously with quaint clasps and
metallic bands. The frieze and lower band of the wall are embroidery
on cloth.
^J!^^— Passing from this dining-room into the sitting-room, we see again a
Jalnte ^^^^^^S ^^ Japanese paper, with a frieze designed by Mr. Tiffany from
paper. natural forms after the Japanese style. The walls are paneled with
Japanese matting, the panels being small — say, three feet by two— some
of them painted by hand, while others show the plain matting, or serve
as frames for pictures. A notable marine sketch by Samuel Colman
fills one of these places, very quiet in its neutral tone, and carried just
far enough to preserve the impression of the scene which the artist de-
signed to depict. The frame is nothing but the narrow molding used
lffice7a ^"^ ^^^'^ ^^^ matting to the wall, and exemplifies strikingly the true office
frame. of a frame, as Mr. Tiffany conceives it. The usual heavy gilt inclosure
would have shut off this picture from all share in "the graceful ease
and sweetness void of pride" of its surroundings, and acted as a hin-
drance, not only to Mr. Colman's charming and self-restrained sketch,
but also to the general influence of the apartment. Here the yellow
tone
T^
Mr. Louis C. Tiffany's Rooms.
tone of the walls helps to keep the picture flat, and make it look like
a part of the whole side of the room. One feels instinctively that a
strong and self-assertive piece of painting, like a Munkacsy, for exam-
ple, would be out of place here; that its strength would weaken the
spirit and temper of its delicate environment ; that such a work would
suit the hall better, or at least some other apartment than this deli-
cately decorated living-room. To have placed it on the wall, would
have been to introduce a blotch or spot of color into an otherwise har-
monious scheme. Moreover, to have hedged the Colman about with a
huge and intrusive frame, would have been to make a hole in the wall,
which is precisely what Mr. Tiffany would have been unwilling to do,
a picture, in his view, being not intended to deceive the spectator into
the belief that he is looking at a piece of out-doors. It may mystify,
to be sure, but never deceive. Mystery is good : to allure the eye to
look and not find out, is excellent in art; but to deceive is bad, be-
cause the sense of disappointment, after the deception has been discov-
ered, is disagreeable.
The doors in this apartment attract attention at once. They are quite
unlike one another, for one thing. The large entrance to the drawing- J,^^l
room, where the usual sliding-doors would have been expected, could door.
not be so occupied, because of a chimney which would not consent to
be penetrated. But a sliding-door was used, nevertheless— only, instead
of sliding into the chimney, it slides outside of it, on wheels that run
along an iron bar above the entrance-way, acting very much like some
barn-doors. It is constructed, for the most part, of small glass panes,
and covered by a cheerful curtain of Japanese crape, which can be
drawn, or pulled back, at pleasure; and on account of sliding from
above, instead of on the floor, there is no groove of brass to trip the
passer from one room into the other. The general eflict, with the
painted wheels, is blue. It is a pretty feature of the room. The door
into the hall has two small doors in its center, which can be opened
or shut at will, so that one is able to communicate with a visitor on the
other side of it, without opening it. The two upright and parallel
windows
Artistic Houses.
Principles
involved.
windows on the same level on the north side have been subjected to a
course of treatment by which one of them seems several feet lower than
the other, without actually having been cut down. A brass radiator,
thrown across the bottom of the left-hand window, makes its sill higher
than that of its neighbor; a wide band of glass-work, built across the
top of the right-hand window, makes it seem lower than its neighbor.
The effort is for irregular balance, as it so often appears in Japanese
art ; and still further, for special fitness, one of the windows being used
to look out of, and therefore needing to be low, while the purpose of
the other is to light the room.
Mr. Tiffany's rooms, indeed, may be considered as an exemplifica-
tion of these two principles of decorative design, the principle of fitness,
and the principle of irregular balance. Illegitimate art, he would say,
is art that lacks fitness; in other words, a proper adaptation of means
to ends ; and decorative art, if it would avoid monotony, must intro-
duce irregular balances.
y
^j'>9»r-A eit.~0>«>Ku>.
MRS. A. T. STEWART'S HOUSE.
The interior of the Stewart mansion, at Fifth Avenue and Thirty-
fourth Street, is palatial. Many European palaces are less so. The
first and second floors are of Carrara marble throughout. The casings
of the doors and windows are of this material, elaborately carved. The
grand stairway and railing are entirely of white marble. Every ceiling
is eighteen feet nine inches high. There are no closets, properly speak-
ing; each partition- wall divides one huge apartment from another. Fur-
niture and hangings seem to have been obtained without care for cost ;
or, rather, only the most costly seem to have been selected. Money
flowed abundantly during the seven years when this white-marble palace
was building for a merchant-prince, and in exchange for it came mag-
nificence, splendor, luxury. Enter by the main doors on Thirty-fourth ^^^J«-
Street, after climbing twenty or thirty white-marble steps, and the vast
hall, lined on each side with life-size or colossal white-marble statues,
and terminating in the grand picture-gallery, presents an imposing vista.
The " Water-Nymph," by Tandardini, stands on its pedestal opposite the
"Fisher-Girl," by Tadolini, each nearly nude; Crawford's "Demosthenes"
faces Harriet Hosmer's "Zenobia"; Crawford's "Flora," holding in her
hands a great wreath of flowers, is vis-h-vis to Randolph Rogers's "Blind
Girl of Pompeii." Between the latter statue and the "Zenobia" rises an
immense French clock, from the factory of Eugene Cornu, Paris, sur-
mounted by a silvered bronze figure, holding in her right hand a sway-
ing pendulum, the whole fourteen feet high, and indicating not only
the hour, minute, and second of the day, but also the day of the
week,
i
^ Artistic Houses,
week, the change of the moon, the record of the barometer and ther-
mometer, and various other matters. The door at the left of the main
entrance opens into the dining-room ; at the right, into the reception-
room ; and another door at the right, into the music-room; while be-
tween the last two doors a side -hall stretches its white -marble floor
toward Fifth Avenue and the drawing-room. Beyond the door of the
dining-room the main stairway begins its lordly, semicircular ascent.
"^^^^S- We will go into the dining-room first, and look at the elegant
%fsclef' ^^^^^^^^ ^^ *^ Italian artist Brigaldi, who came from Europe to execute
them. They are exclusively in encaustic, and have proved so durable
that although recently washed with common soap and water, and rubbed
with pumice-stone, in order to remove the blackening caused by the
heat of the furnace, they are as bright and fresh as on the day they
were finished. The walls are marked off in large panels with solid
grounds ; and the design of the ceiling, very delicately wrought out in
scroll-work and floriated ornament enriched with miniature figures, in-
vites examination by its conscientious and painstaking elaboration. M.
Brigaldi executed five thousand dollars' worth of painting in this room,
five thousand more in the breakfast-room adjoining it, and five thousand
more in the picture-gallery adjoining the breakfast-room ; and if you
should take a magnifying-glass and mount a ladder and inspect the
traces of his brush, your conduct would be quite in keeping with what
the artist would have desired. The frieze is raised work, gilded and
painted. From the large bay-window at the extremity of the room,
and from all the other windows, depend hangings of Gobelin tapestry,
with which stuff also the chairs are covered. The furniture, here and
in the breakfast-room, is of solid rose-wood, made in New York after
the late Mr. Stewart's designs.
"The recep- Let US cross the hall and enter the reception-room. Brigaldi's brush
has been at work here also, and in every apartment of the house. It
was busy for twelve months. The carpet is of a design to match the
ceiling. Blue silk of a chintz pattern covers the chairs and sofas, and
hangs before the windows and door-ways. Merle's Hamlet and Ophelia,
"Get
Mrs. A. T'. Stewart's House.
"Get thee to a Nunnery"; C. Clairin's "Carnival at Venice," with P^^'"^'"i^
in the re-
the column of St. Mark's in the foreground ; Tortez's " Communist ception-
room.
Woman," in red sash and turban, looking scornfully about her ; Ferri-
er's "Margherite" going to church with prayer-book in hand and down-
cast eyes; Jacquet's "Turkish Woman" of the seraglio; and Bouguereau's
" Shepherdess " holding affectionately in her arms a lamb whose mother
bleats by her side, ornament the walls — oil-paintings all of them, mostly
life-size, practically harmonious in artistic resources and styles, and uni-
formly pleasing, as the popular appetite counts pleasingness. Four
rose-wood cabinets, with bronze and gilt panels bearing figures in relief,
adjoin with careful regularity each corner of the room, while a costly
table of rose-wood, covered with a large slab of Mexican onyx, and
bearing various expensive ornaments of bronze and onyx, occupies the
center. The effect, again, is palatial.
We pass directly from this elegant reception-room into the grand yi^ grand
drawing-room, which extends along the entire Fifth Avenue side of the room.
building. The tone is golden. Brigaldi's encaustic frescoes of flowers
and ideal figures shine from the ceiling, and are reflected in the pat-
tern of the carpet on the floor. The walls, of solid brick and marble,
with iron furring and lathing, received four coats of paint before his
brush touched them. Furniture of gilded whitewood, covered with pale-
yellow satin, is disposed methodically. Three lofty windows admit an
abundance of light on the Fifth Avenue side, and opposite them are
three doors, one leading into the music-room, one into the side-hall,
and one into the reception-room. Between the windows the panels are
almost filled with massive French mirrors with beveled edges ; and be-
side the single window on Thirty-fourth Street stand a pair of torches
ten feet high, bearing seven burners each, constructed of gilded bronze
and French onyx, and acting as sentinels to Salv-Albano's marble bust,
" Maternal Love," a mother carrying her child on her back. In the
central window on Fifth Avenue is R. H. Park's marble group, " First
Love," flanked by two magnificent ten-thousand-dollar Sevres vases, the
pictures on which represent respectively " Music " and " Painting."
Two
lo Artistic Houses.
Two well-filled cabinets, about nine feet long and four feet high, cov-
ered with crimson plush, and laden with ornaments of porcelain, stand
between the door- ways opposite ; and facing them are two center-tables
of gilt and onyx, bearing ornaments of glass and porcelain. A massive
pair of gilt and onyx chandeliers hang from the ceiling. The crimson
plush of the cabinets is repeated in the heavy portieres, whose borders
are enriched with gilt appliqu^-work. There are no oil-paintings or
other wall-pictures in this splendid drawing-room.
'^he music- g^t in the music-room hang six large ones. All the darker colors
room. ° °
of the ceiling and walls are a light-green. A rose- wood center- table,
bordered with bronze bas-reliefs impersonating the four seasons of the
year; three rose- wood cabinets, with silver or bronze high-reliefs, on the
upright panels ; a white-marble mantel, simple in design and gracefully
carved, on whose shelf rest an onyx and gilt clock and onyx and gilt
candelabra, constitute the principal features.
Hlwpict- The grand picture-gallery next claims our attention. It is about
ure-gal- *j j
lery. fifty feet high, thirty feet wide, and seventy-five feet long, lighted from
the top. In the deep frieze, on backgrounds of warm color, appear
the portrait-heads of the American artists Huntington, Church, Bierstadt,
and Elliott; and the foreign artists Rosa Bonheur, Delaroche, Couture,
Horace Vernet, Ger6me, and Meissonier. The walls are entirely con-
cealed by oil-paintings, and two rows of easels, extending the whole
length of the apartment, are laden with similar treasures. The greater
part of the western wall is covered by Rosa Bonheur's celebrated *' Horse
Fair," the sky of which has lately been restored, the picture looking as
fresh as it did twenty years ago. Balancing this work, on the opposite
wall, is Auguste Bonheur's " Landscape with Cattle," an immense canvas.
Meisso- The center of the northern wall holds Meissonier's celebrated " 1807,"
nier's
"1807." for which Mr. Stewart paid sixty thousand dollars, and in which is de-
picted Napoleon I in all his glory on the field of battle, mounted on
his charger, surrounded by his marshals, and witnessing a furious dash
of cuirassiers, while the smoke of the conflict rolls away on his right.
The drawing, the elaboration, and the composition of this military rep-
resentation
Mrs. A. jT. Stewart's House. n
resentation are wonderful even to artists. Meissonier's intention is fully
explained in the following extract from a letter written by himself to
the late Mr. Stewart :
" I have the conviction — which I do not express without a certain ^^p^^^-
^ tory letter
pride — that the value of this work will increase with time. What may fromMeis-
^ sonier.
or can be said of it will pass away, but the picture will remain, to be
an honor to both of us; and although it can defend itself, yet, among
the thousands of persons who have hastened to see it, many have done
it injustice with a certain malevolent appreciation. Still, I have the
right, having painted it with so much sincerity of purpose, to defend
and explain it. Strange as this may appear, it must be done ; because,
however singular may be the fact, some, I understand, have not been
pleased to go and see it for themselves, but have adopted the unfair
judgment of others.
" I did not intend to paint a battle ; I wanted to paint Napoleon
at the zenith of his glory; I wanted to paint the love, the adoration
of the soldiers for the great captain in whom they had faith, and for
whom they were ready to die.
"I previously had represented, in the picture '1814,' the heart-rend-
ing end of the Imperial Dream — those men, only recently intoxicated
with glory, now shown exhausted, and no longer believing in their in-
vincible chief. My palette then did not have colors sad enough for the
purpose; but to-day, in ' Friedland, 1807,' wishing everything to appear
brilliant at this triumphant moment, it seemed to me I was unable to
find colors sufficiently dazzling. No shade should be upon the imperial
face to take from him the epic character I wished to give him. The
battle, already commenced, was necessary to add to the enthusiasm of
the soldiers, and make the subject stand forth, but not to diminish it
by saddening details. All such shadows I avoided, and presented noth-
ing but a dismounted cannon and some growing wheat which would
never ripen. This was enough.
" The men and the emperor are in presence of one another. The
soldiers cry to him that they are his; and the impassive chief, whose
imperial
^2 Artistic Houses.
imperial will directs the masses that move around him, salutes his de-
voted army. He and they plainly comprehend one another, and absolute
confidence is expressed in every face.
"Such M^as the idea as it leaped from my brain at the first instant
when I embodied the picture in thought, and which, in spite of the
long time I have taken to put it on canvas, has always remained with
me so clear and plain that I have never in any manner modified it.
"As to the execution, only a painter (and one of great experience)
can say what time, labor, and patience have been brought to bear upon
this work to produce a single whole out of so many diverse elements.
Only he can say how difficult it is, from such varied materials, to put
aside all those artifices which so often are used in art to cover defects.
The growing wheat is even proof of the difficulties I have encountered
in covering it with the dust which hides so many things.
" I said to you, at the beginning, and again let me repeat it, that
I have faith in my work. Time will consolidate and strengthen it more
and more, and I am also certain your enlightened love for art will pro-
tect it in case there should be need."
In the center of the southern wall hangs Bouguereau's large figure-
piece, "The Return from the Harvest." About these four pictures are
gathered scores of examples of modern artists more or less famous : For-
tuny appears in the marvelously certain and quick touch, and the brilliant
tone-study, of his " Snake-Charmer," and in the superb light and spacious-
Fortuny. ness of his coast-scene, " Plage de Portici," the unfinished seated figures
in the foreground sadly reminding the spectator that it was the last work
of the most splendid of modern colorists. Alfred Stevens contributes his
"Apres le Bal," two perfectly modeled figures, draped with even more
than characteristic felicity, one of them bending in sorrow over her femi-
nine companion's arm, while a tell-tale billet-doux lies upon the table.
^'^Ch^'- ^^^^"^^' ^^ ^^^ "Charioteers" speeding their horses in a vast amphitheatre,
oteersr shows, by its careless treatment of the legs and action of those beasts,
how a great artist may slight a subject even when executing an eighty-
thousand franc order; but he splendidly redeems his reputation in the
famous
Other
paintings.
11
Mrs, A. T'. Stewart's House. 13
famous " Gladiators " contending before Caesar ; and especially in the
"Collaboration" from the Salon of 1874, where Moliere sits at a table
in a golden calm, listening to the reading of a manuscript by his col-
laborator in the production of a play. Meissonier, who scarcely ever
paints a woman, has painted two of them for Mr. Stewart. " Asking
for Alms," or, to quote the original title, " L'Aumone," represents a cava- Meisso-
. . nier's
her on horseback stopping in a leafy lane to fumble in his pocket for ''L'Ju-
some corns for a beggar-woman and her infant child. When the artist
was executing this work, his New York patron entered the studio, and
noticed that the suppliant, who was to receive the equestrian's charity,
was leaning against a tree. " Look here, young man," exclaimed Mr.
Stewart to Meissonier, "that's not according to Gunther." "Hold on,"
was the reply — " hold on, until it is finished." As finished, the woman
stands without arboreal support. On another occasion the merchant-
prince observed in the same studio a " View of Nice," from the brush
of Meissonier ///. " I will take that picture," he said, to the father,
" if you will paint into it the portraits of your son and his wife."
The offer was accepted, the portraits were introduced by the paternal
hand, and the work, with these notable additions, is a celebrity of the
Stewart collection. A small water-color, about eight inches by six, is the
elder Meissonier's portrait-head of himself. Michetti's " Misty Morning," Pciintings
bluish-toned, stands for an excellent example of that singularly clever chetti,
brush-man. Zamacois's scene in " Une Antechambre au Louvre, sous Zamacm,
Henri III," where the dwarf court-jesters are sporting on the floor,
makes one feel afresh how great was the loss to art at the untimely
taking off" of the brilliant Franco- Spaniard. Munkacsy's delightful figure- Munkacsy.
piece, "The Visit to the Baby" — a young mother, pale and happy, re-
ceiving the congratulations of two lady friends to whom the nurse is
proudly exhibiting the latest arrival — produces its captivating effect with
much less bitumen than the works that gave him fame. This genuine
piece of portrayal is equally successful in tone and in story. A hun-
dred years hence it will tell how French ladies were dressed in Paris
in the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century, and will please by its
scheme
V
Ni
14 Artistic Houses.
scheme of color; it will depict the operation of some of the tenderest
^2^«- and sweetest sentiments known to the human heart, and will stand as
kacsfs
''Visit to an example of masterly brush-work; it will delight both the popular
and the professional taste. More nearly than any other picture in the
Stewart collection does this remarkable work fulfill this twofold require-
ment, its '^ literary " subject being extraordinarily felicitous, and its ex-
ecutive merits extraordinarily numerous. For, be it observed, Munkacsy
here demonstrates that he is not only a skilled draughtsman, modeler,
and composer, but also a colorist and a poet; not only a painter, but
also an artist, and able to address himself eloquently, that is to say,
persuasively, not only to his professional brothers, but to the public at
large. This celebrated artist is still young, having been born at Mun-
kacs, Austro-Hungary, in 1846. Previous to 1870, when he exhibited
in the Salon his " Condemned to Death," he was almost unknown.
His first price for an oil-painting was a dinner, and for some years aft-
erward he was glad to get forty dollars for an interior with figures.
To-day his " Visit to the Baby " is supposed to be worth, in Paris, at
least forty thousand dollars. A young American painter, who knew
him at Diisseldorf two years before his first appearance at the Salon ^
Munkacsy. describes Munkacsy as of medium height and good figure, with " pleas-
ant face, light beard, and crisp mustache; his dreamy, melancholy eyes
looked out from under bent brows, and his massive forehead was cov-
ered with thick, curly locks of brown hair, prematurely streaked with
gray. Handsome or not, his appearance was striking, and was empha-
sized still more by a slight singularity of dress, which included a sort
of dolman and top-boots, and was a half compromise with the national
costume of Hungary. He resembled strikingly portraits of Beethoven."
Everybody liked him. He was passionately fond of out-door sports,
and knew how to manage a horse like a cavalryman. He could play
tricks like a magician, and could act at amateur theatricals with pro-
fessional skill. He whistled " as Patti sings ; with his features in per-
fect repose, like a marble faun's, and the handsome lines of his mouth
scarcely contracted in the least, he gave utterance to the most strangely
beautiful
/•
Mrs. A. 'T. Stewart's House. 15
beautiful notes — ripples of silvery sound that a nightingale might envy,
or a mocking-bird break its heart in trying to imitate. Mournful Hun-
garian melodies came from his lips plaintive as a sigh, rising and fall-
ing in improvised variations, and then bursting into a clear, liquid warble,
like that of a bird."
Some sympathy exists between R. Madrazo's picture of a woman Paintings
J ^ J ^ hyMadra-
Standing erect in front of a monkey and Alfred Stevens's " After the zo, Alfred
. . S/evens^
Ball," so far as the modeling and coloring of the principal figure are
concerned. The charm, in each instance, is derived partly from the
sculptural character of the form, and partly from the absence of me-
tallic quality in the flesh-tints, and crudity of tone. Near hangs
a still-life by Desgoffe — a picture of a costly center-table partly covered Desgofe,
by silk stuflF of sapphire hue, on which rest a drinking-cup of glass
and an onyx bowl, the whole elaborated with that minutely pains-
taking care for which the artist is celebrated, and challenging compe-
tition. It is difficult to see how a painter's brush can carry the at-
tempt at external realization much further than Desgoffe goes. If art
were only imitation, this canvas would be eminently artistic. De Nit- De Nim's,
tis's " Return from the Courses " shows us gay equipages and drivers
going home from the races, under the fleecy clouds of the blue sky of
an early afternoon in summer, on a road which winds its way through
a shining reach of grassy land, and is lined on one side with tall
trees, under which fashionably-dressed men and women are watching
a scene treated with almost a fresco-like breadth and purity, and a
suggestion of evanescent brightness.
Two life-size figures of Beatrice and Benedick are a passage from
Shakespeare, interpreted by the late M. Merle, of Paris. Benedick Merle,
asks Beatrice : " What, my dear lady Disdain, are you yet living ? "
and Beatrice replies : "Is it possible Disdain should die while she hath
such meet food to feed it as Signor Benedick? Courtesy itself must
convert to Disdain, if you come in her presence." The painter, how-
ever, shows us an amiable woman, dressed in a satin gown of greenish
yellow, with a pearl depending from a sapphire in her hair, with a golden
chain
i6
Artistic Houses.
Fon Bre-
men^
Leloir^
Alvarez, chain about her shoulders, and wearing a necklace of pearl. Alvarez
appears in true Hispano-French style in his " Jealousy "—a superbly-
costumed young woman seated on a sofa beside a priest, who is about
to sip his chocolate, while the sportive creature, her cup of the same
fluid in her lap, listens to the flatteries of a young cavalier at her
right, the maid-servant peering at them through an opening in a flow-
ered screen. It is a sparkling story. Meyer von Bremen has seldom
been less unobjectionable than in his "First Sorrow," where a young
German peasant-girl puts a corner of her apron to her eye at the sight
of her dead canary in its cage. You can just see the breast of the
departed bird as it lies flat on its back; and the table, chair, basket of
clothes, and stone jug, are admirably drawn. Leloir has a piece of
summer out-doors in the country— an old beau fishing on the bank of
a brook, while two young women, one of them reading from a book,
recline in shadow on the grass behind him. Egusquiza presents two
Spanish blondes looking down into the street from an upper window.
A bird-cage hangs near them, on the outside wall of the house, acting
naively its part as a little item of naturalism genuinely caught. M.
Frangais, Fran^ais, the pupil, friend, eulogist, and, in a certain sense, successor
of Corot, is so seldom seen in this country that his "Ruins of Pom-
peii" possesses more than intrinsic interest. The tone is pathetically
somber. Some trees at the right of the long rows of roofless ruins
sway their branches gently, as Corot's do, though in darker hues, and
in the far-distant background a burst of sunshine gleams across the rip-
pling waters of the Bay of Naples. Two men are digging in one of
the excavations, while a mournful procession of women carry on their
heads baskets full of dirt, or return bearing them empty. This beauti-
ful picture shows that when M. Frangais, in his ovation at Ville-d'Av-
ray, on the occasion of the unveiling of the monument to Corot, said
that the latter made adorable that which others tread under their feet
—"a bit of grass variously illumined, a piece of brush-wood, a dark
corner, a glade, an embellishment of sky, a cloud, a smoke, a house
that shines down there on the hill, a cow that grazes, a woman that
passes
Mrs. A. T. Stewart's House. 17
passes along a by-path with a bundle of sticks on her back — thou
makest everything lovable, everything precious; thou restorest everything
to the ideal without losing the real; all these objects, insignificant in
themselves, O power of Art ! become eloquent or dramatic at thy will,
playing the part that thou assignest them in thy symphony" — he spoke
of matters to which his own brush was by no means a stranger. Tro- ^^^y^^"-
yon's landscape with cattle, although recently "restored," has many of
those subtiler features which will for ever distinguish him from his pupil
Van Marcke. Edouard Fr^re's large German interior, with peasant
family, explains adequately the basis of his reputation. E. Nicol ap-
pears in his " Disputed Boundary," and Piloty in his " Germanicus's
Triumphant Entry into Rome." And as for our American artists, it American
artists.
IS a satisfaction to see that the rich collector has not forgotten them;
for in honorable places the visitor encounters Daniel Huntington's im-
mense canvas with a score or more of figures, " Lady Washington's Re-
ception," and examples of Eastman Johnson, F. E. Church, Henry Pe-
ters Gray, J. H. Beard, Bierstadt, R. C. Minor, Tait, Arthur Parton,
James M. Hart, Kellock, and others. This Stewart collection of one hun-
dred and sixty-four pictures is justly celebrated. To see it is really a no-
table privilege. Nor does the visitor fail to be impressed by the life-size
statues of Italian marble, placed in two parallel lines along the floor of
the gallery; especially by Powers's celebrated " Greek Slave," and his
two " Eves," one representing the " Temptation," and the other the
" Regret " ; by Ives's " Flora," Durham's " Paul and Virginia," Barbee's
"Fisher Girl," Marshall Wolf's "Proserpine," and R. H. Park's "Sap-
pho."
Let us ascend the imperial stairway of Carrara marble, and pass
through the spacious apartments of the second story. Here, first of all,
is the library on the Fifth Avenue side, directly above the drawing-room, T^he li-
brary.
and running the whole width of the house. Eight book-cases of black
walnut, inlaid with French walnut panels, and glistening with mirror-
doors, sit nonchalantly at suitable intervals along the walls. A life-size Le Clear's
•1 • r 1 1 • 1 • '111 portrait of
oil-portrait of the late owner, m a chair, was pamted by Thomas Le Mr. Stew-
Clear,
^^ . Artistic Houses.
Clear, and very successfully, one must confess, in view of the fact that
at the time of his death there existed no likeness of Mr. Stewart, and
the artist had never even seen him. This work of art is supported by
another, of the same size, by Mrs. Henry A. Loop, representing Mrs.
Stewart. Two massive tables, ten feet long by five feet wide, the sides
filled with abundant drawers containing costly illustrated books, and the
tops laden with similar treasures, adorn the middle of the room, in the
presence of hangings of Gobelin tapestry which partly conceal the carv-
ings of the Carrara-marble window-frames and door-casings. The crim-
son ground of the carpet echoes the tone of the panels of the walls,
and above it depend a pair of heavy gilt chandeliers with large and
numerous globes. Oil-portraits of the Duke of Marlborough, " Good
Queen Bess," the Czar of Russia, and other once mighty personages,
hang from the ceiling over the book-cases. It is a regal apartment,
this magnificent library. We may walk from it into the billiard-room,
where luxury and splendor again preside, and stop for a moment in
front of Horace Vernet's celebrated picture, "Cesar's Triumphal Entry
mto Rome," or into Mrs. Stewart's sitting-room, even more notable in
both respects.
^ooT ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^' ^^^ principal guest-room, known as "General
Grant's room," is directly above the library on the Fifth Avenue front.
Two rose-wood bedsteads of full width stand near each other, with
heads to the east wall; and of rose- wood are two magnificent ward-
robes and wash-stands combined; you open their central mirror-doors,
and the lavatory apparatus is disclosed. The hangings and furniture-
covers are of blue satin. Other guest-rooms open from either side of
the hall, all of them superbly upholstered.
The visitor goes away from this stately residence with his first
impression renewed and strengthened; he has been in the marble palace
of a merchant-prince.
room.
GENERAL GRANT'S HOUSE.
The spacious and well-appointed brown -stone house of General
Grant, at No. 3 East Sixty-sixth Street, near the Central Park, is fur-
nished in a style that speaks of comfort rather than of ostentation.
There has been no lavish outlay of money to produce mere effects, and
the professional decorator who should enter it would find little to awa-
ken his surprise or envy. Nor, on the other hand, would he be inclined
to criticise keenly his surroundings, for the evidence of extreme good
taste on every hand would confront him with its charm. General Grant
seems to have said to himself: "I will found a home in the metrop-
olis, and it shall be such a home as suits me. Many of my friends, to
be sure, would put themselves in the midst of a much more costly and
luxurious environment. But this is not my taste; and surely it is my
taste, rather than the taste of other people, that I should consult in
furnishing my own house." Accordingly, the visitor will see at No. 3
East Sixty-sixth Street no super-elegance, nor incomprehensible theatri-
calism in the frescoes of the walls, in the hangings of the rooms, in
the furniture, or in the pictures, but everywhere the tokens of a re-
fined and unobtrusive appreciation of artistic beauty.
The curtains in the bay-window of the parlor are beautiful speci- Jhe par-
mens of Japanese embroidery of gold on a pale-yellow silk, and the
chairs and sofa are covered with similar stuff. The walls are painted
simply in neutral tints; and Mrs. Grant purchased in India the fine rug
that adorns the floor. A handsomely-embroidered screen, with repre-
sentations of a cock and a hen, sharply, correctly, and most spiritedly ^J^J^'^^l^ ^
done, was a present from the citizens of Tokio. Two teak-wood cabi- P^^-
nets,
^^ Artistic Houses.
Oriental
cabinet.
nets, intricately carved in delicate scroll-work, came from Japan also,
as did a number of large pieces of porcelain — the general having staid
longer in that country than in any other during his recent voyage
around the world, and the Japanese, from Mikado to artisan, having
shown deep esteem and affection for the great American soldier. A
pair of large silver vases ; a superb saddle, ornamented with lacquer and
gold; and a lacquer cabinet, in which the various designs, colors, and
materials, display a marvelous harmony, are gifts from the Mikado him-
self, and very striking specimens of Japanese art in its characteristic in-
terpretation of the domestic and national life. On a small table stands
an extremely beautiful little cabinet of silver filigree-work, representing
a temple, presented by the Maharajah of Decca. This delightful souve-
nir is altogether unique, and never fails to attract and detain the eye
of the general's guest. Perhaps nothing like it has ever been displayed
in a private house in this country. During a visit to another Oriental
dignity, the Maharajah of Jehore, the general was surprised by the sight
of a large collection of elephants' tusks grouped around a center-table.
On bidding him farewell, his host picked up a pair of those curiosities,
and begged the general to accept them in token of his perpetual amity.
The supplication met with a favorable response, and the two immense
tusks are now among the ornaments of General Grant's parlor.
This room contains, also, three oil-paintings of peculiar interest.
The first is the original "Sheridan Twenty Miles away," by T. Bu-
danr chanan Read, in which the hero of Winchester appears mounted on
his foaming and dust-producing charger, en route for the battle-field.
Holding his sword high in the air, he spurs his steed to the utmost,
forgetful of self and of the past, concerned only with the disaster twen-
ty miles away, which his presence alone can repair. General Grant is
said to value this picture very highly, and several times to have refused
to give it to his friend Sheridan, who had asked for it. The next
Page^s work is Page's full-length, life-size portrait of General Winfield Scott,
portrait ^ ^ ^
of General which hangs on the left as you enter the apartment from the hall, not
Scott. r r 1 r 1 . /
tar from the front bay-wmdow, and was presented by the late Marshall
O. Roberts.
Read's
''Sheri'
1
General Grant's House. 21
O. Roberts. It is considered an excellent likeness, and the treatment
by which the artist has enveloped his subject in a faint mist, somewhat
like that of which Mr. George Fuller is so fond, allows the head to
make its appeal with undiminished force. The portrait is free, simple,
and noble in bearing, without posing or other affectation, admirable in
drawing and modeling, and full of a certain distinguished air that
seems to designate a characteristic national figure. It is sad to think
that illness and the infirmities of age have staid the hand of William
Page from again producing such a work. This artist's best paintings
are undoubtedly his portraits, and among them the " Winfield Scott "
must be assigned a very high place, although (as often in the case of
Leonardo da Vinci) his use of novel technical means and materials does
not guarantee the absolute indestructibility of some of the choice cre-
ations of his genius. The third picture is a large family group, painted
by W. Cogswell about fifteen years ago. Mrs. Grant sits in the cen- ¥avniy
group.
ter; at her left stands the general in full uniform; while four children
are easily disposed at her right, one of them mounted on a pony. The
expressions of the several faces are amiable and spirited.
The notable feature of General Grant's library, in the rear of the Library.
drawing-room, is a large cabinet of antique oak, whose shelves are
laden with various choice and more or less costly gifts presented to the Oak cabi-
net.
general during and since the late war for the Union. No piece of fur-
niture in the United States of America contains a display of curiosities
at once so flattering to the owner and so rich in historic interest.
Among six or eight gold-headed canes, the most interesting is one given
by the ladies of Baltimore, and formerly owned by the Marquis de La- Lafay-
fayette, with whose name, as well as with General Grant's, it is in-
scribed, bearing also the further inscription : " Presented to General U.
8. Grant by the Ladies of Baltimore. Fortibus honor,'' It is unneces-
sary to state that the general has always cherished this interesting gift
with special affection. By its side lies the handle of another cane,
which was broken off some years ago at Washington, during a struggle
with a lunatic. The general's use of that instrument as a weapon was
exceedingly
22
Artistic Houses.
Caskets
exceedingly dexterous, and resulted in the speedy discomfiture of his
assailant.
In this cabinet are to be seen several small, oblong caskets, con-
containin ^^^^^^S ^^^ freedom of the principal cities of England, Ireland, and
fo?/of' ^^^^^^^^' formally presented to General Grant during his late visit to
cities in those countries. The handsomest, most costly, and most elaborate, is
Britain, the gold one offered by the corporation of the city of London. At
one end is a figure of Liberty, with the United States coat-of-arms ;
at the other, the figure of Britannia, similarly treated. Very clever re-
poussi work represents St. James's Palace on one side, and the Capitol
at Washington on the other, accompanied by the legends ^^ Dominey
dirige nos;' and '' E pluribus ummr This casket will be a valu-
able heirloom for the Grant children and grandchildren. The freedom
of the city of Dublin was presented in a small box of bog-wood, set
with emeralds, amethysts, and other precious stones, bound with gold,
and mounted on wheels. On the inside of the wooden box containing
the freedom of Stratford-on-Avon, an inscription informs the spectator
that the trophy was "made with mulberry- wood from the tree planted
by Shakespeare at New Place, Stratford-on-Avon." A silver casket,
with much repousse decoration, is engraved with the announcement,
"The City of Edinburgh to General Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1877."
A silver repousse casket, gilded, contains the freedom of the city of
Glasgow. " We have had our box gilded just for a little change," said
the chairman of the committee of arrangements to General Grant.
All these caskets are small, the largest of them not exceeding eight
inches in length, four inches in width, and six inches in height, and
contain parchment scrolls, carefully engrossed, in which the freedom of
the several cities is regularly and conventionally bestowed. At Strat-
ford-on-Avon Mrs. Grant received a beautiful album, filled with pho-
tographs of interesting scenery. The "Royal Burgh of Ayr," not to
be outdone by the cities, contributed a casket also.
This oaken cabinet contains, besides, the sword presented to Gen-
eral Grant by his staff-ofiicers after the - battle of Shiloh ; the sword
presented
'Presenta-
tion
sxsjords.
/
General Grant' s House. 23
presented by subscribers assembled at the Sanitary Fair in New York
City during the war for the Union; the sword presented by the gen-
eral's friends in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, with a circle of diamonds
around the end of the golden scabbard, the body decorated with Moor-
ish designs alternating with the names of battles in which the general
was victorious. It is a beautiful object. The gold medal voted in ^-ongns-
•' *^ sional
Congress " by a grateful country," after the opening of the Mississippi medal
through the capture of Port Hudson and Vicksburg, is preserved in a
golden casket, whose top is a group of cannon covered by flags, sur-
mounted by the American eagle. A small, plain table of gold is a
miniature fac-simile of the table on which General Lee signed the ar-
ticles of capitulation in the presence of General Grant.
^ The lower shelf presents a varied and inviting array of meerschaum
pipes and cigar-holders, in the midst of which repose a gold-enameled
cigar-case and tobacco-bowl, presented by the King of Siam. Seven or
eight honorary medals, attached to ribbons, and intended to be worn
as decorations on the breast, are conspicuous attractions.
A marble bust of General Grant, presented by the workmen of a ^^^ ^^^'
^ ^ ing-room.
well-known marble-cutting establishment, stands on a pedestal in the
front room; and in the library hangs a medallion representing, cheek
to cheek, the heads of Washington, Lincoln, and Grant. The dining-
room is simply and quite charmingly furnished in white-oak, with the
general's monogram stamped on the backs of the chairs. The visitor
goes away from the house with the impression that, many and valuable
as are the testimonials in it to the general's worth, they are not nearly
so many nor so valuable as might justly have been expected, or as cer-
tainly would have been found at the residence of a successful foreign
soldier — the Duke of Wellington, for instance. And if Grant's house is
interesting, nevertheless, chiefly because of the tributes it contains, it is
in a profounder sense interesting because of the comparative fewness and
unobtrusiveness of them.
Ll^-..
MR. DAVID L. EINSTEIN'S HOUSE.
A LAVISH expenditure of money, under the direction of a cultivated
taste, has produced Mr. David L. Einstein's very interesting house at Character
No. 39 West Fifty-seventh Street. Though finished only a few months kot/se.
ago, the interior is surprisingly free from a disposition to stare. With
all its magnificence and splendor, it has the soberness and seriousness
of demeanor which belong to age, and in which old families take par-
ticular complacence. Its manners are not only well-bred, but gracious,
so to speak, with the memories and associations of fruitful years. More-
over, the sense of home has been so carefully and uniformly preserved
*as to make itself felt at once and always. There is not a chair in the
building but invites to be sat upon; not an article of furniture but
seeks to be used in accordance with the purpose of its creation. One
is not afraid to seat himself upon a sofa, lest the brightness of its un-
sullied satin should be dimmed thereby. The house and its contents
seem to have been made for human creatures' comfort, and toward that
comfort the visitor is sure to be irresistibly drawn.
Entering the hall through stained-glass doors, in front of which Oak wood-
hangs a lantern that is an exact reproduction of an old Venetian de- hall.
sign, we are struck by the solidity and massiveness of the wood-work
in oak. The staircase, the ceiling, the mantel, the immense doors, are
all of this enduring and discreet material, which, in the present in-
stance, has been so dsirkened by the application of vapor of ammonia
that the flight of at least fifty years might be said to have passed over
it. This artificial darkening follows in the lines of a natural process,
as anybody may see who cares to take a look at the hand-rails of the
stations
^^ Artistic Houses.
stations of the Metropolitan Elevated Railroad in New York City,
Ye^attos- ^^^"^^ ^^ exposure to the atmosphere for several years, together with
^^'on constant rubbing by passengers, has caused the original white-oak to
become almost black. Such a transformation under such circumstances
is as natural for white-oak as the transformation, under similar circum-
stances, whereby black-walnut, which, when new, has a tendency to
slatishness of color, becomes decidedly reddish j so that, by the use of
vapor of ammonia, the action of the atmosphere upon white-oak is
only accelerated, as it were, and the effect produced artificially is sim-
ply an anticipation of a purely natural result, which, in time, would
have certainly come of itself.
Into this prevailing tone of antique oak enters the subdued red of
the immense leather panels of the walls. Genuine leather they are
throughout the first story of the hall, each made to order in France,
and exactly fitted to the panel for which it was intended. The ceil-
ing is of paneled oak, and above the doors sit grotesque oaken figures.
But the special and most noteworthy feature of the hall is the large
Oaken carved oaken screen to the staircase, formed of three arches, the center'
screen. ^ '
one being over the steps, and the two others acting as window-effects.
Above the arches is a frieze of stained glass, surmounted by a cornice
which runs around the hall.
Leaving behind us one of the thickest and solidest mantel-pieces in
New York City, some teak-wood chairs, an elaborately-carved teak-
wood cabinet, a mosaic marble floor of curious small pattern, some
"the stair- armor four hundred years old, and a hanging clock, we pass up-stairs,
under the central arch of the screen, and between a pair of striking
gas-fixtures, each of which consists of an oaken grifiin holding from
his mouth a nest of serpents, out of whose four mouths come four
burners. Some Indian and Albanian scarfs, tastefully hung under the
other arches, give pleasing notes of color; and, after ascending three
or four steps, each step covered with a special mat of its own, we
turn abruptly toward a bay-window, at the foot of the principal flight
of stairs, and encounter the variegated lustel-s of its mosaics of stained
glass,
J
Mr. David L. Einstein's House. 27
glass, as these are interpreted by the lighted jets behind them. Facing
the bay-window, and standing on the newel, a grotesque and skillfully-
carved figure holds a lantern, and presides over the rich carving of the
paneling of the staircase. As far as the third floor this carving con-
tinues, and here the staircase ends, having no connection either with
basement or attic. A back staircase, twining about. an elevator for per-
sons and baggage, serves every need of the dwellers in basement or attic
for ordinary or rapid transit.
Before the visitor has seen the fine screen of this principal stairway,
he has probably been ushered into the lovely little Chinese reception- Chinese
^ ' '' reception-
room on the right of the hall. If so, he is likely to say that seldom room.
in his life was he in more agreeable surroundings. The very aroma of
the Celestials pervades this bijou apartment, and exhales from the em-
broidered silks on the walls; from the embroidered portieres^ made piece
by piece out of old silk robes imported for the purpose; from the em-
broidered curtains of dark-blue plush, parts of which once served in
the gowns of Chinese priests; from the embroidered coverings, also of
dark-blue plush, of the chairs and sofas. Amid the general tone of
blue and red with gold shine the cloisonne enamels and rare porcelains
of the corner cabinets. The " ship of good luck," a vessel which bears
to Japanese children very much the relation borne by St. Nicholas, or
Kris Kringle, to American children, is sure to engage the attention of
the visitor, unless it be otherwise occupied by an effort to translate the
curious inscriptions in Chinese characters on the walls — a task, we be- Chinese
■"■ inscrip-
lieve, not yet successfully accomplished in this country, although the tions.
host confidently expects to see it done, notwithstanding the prevailing
ignorance of the great majority of our imported Chinamen. Had these
curious inscriptions been Japanese, there would have been little diffi-
culty in picking up in a hundred places in New York City competent
translators of them. But, unlike his neighbors, John Chinaman in
America is seldom acquainted with the letters of his own language, to
say nothing of interpreting them to foreigners.
Reluctant though he may be to leave this charming reception-room,
the
f
28 Artistic Houses.
the visitor will not wait long for a summons to the parlor — the Louis
XVI parlor. Most of the apartments in Mr. Einstein's house, it may
Variety of be here observed, are decorated in distinct styles : the hall is patterned
after the Early English Renaissance \ the library speaks of Louis XIII's
epoch ; the dining-room of Henry IV's ; the sitting-room is Anglo- Japa-
nese; the reception-room Chinese; the parlor Louis XVFs, and so on;
but so unobtrusive, and in other respects felicitous, are the contrasts,
that you step easily and naturally, without shock or importunity, into
any one of these apartments from any other of them; and so skillfully
has the connection been made that there is no repetition of schemes of
color. Each room dwells apart, yet not so far apart as not to be
comfortably accessible from its next neighbor. The difficulty of thus
dexterously allying such apparently heterogeneous materials will be best
appreciated by those who have oftenest tried to overcome it.
But let us return to the parlor — to its white-and-gold effects, to
Arched the immense oval canvas (say sixteen by ten feet) in its arched ceiling,
ceiling m \ j j / o
farlor. representing Cupids in a sky with flowers in their hands, and sur-
rounded by a net- work of gold; to its mantel-piece of white lacquer,
gold, and Mexican onyx; to the beautiful ormolu fender, and the mag-
nificent ormolu clock and candelabra; to the sconces with their more
than ninety candles, which obviate the need of a chandelier, that would
break into the superb oval of the ceiling; to the costly lace curtains;
to the oaken sliding-doors, covered with white lacquer touched up with
gold, the panels adorned with paintings by Frerot, and with bas-reliefs
like lace- work ; and to the velours and savonnerie of the chairs and
sofas. Elaborated as are most of the results, the spectator does not feel
that the simplicity, which genius loves, has yielded the palm to self-
consciousness. Elegant they are, of course — they could not deserve the
name of Louis XVI were they not — but affected they are not; and
this is the point to be noted in speaking of a Louis XVI room — one
sees so much of the Louis Seize that is self-conscious, and affected, and
insipid.
From a Louis Seize parlor through an Early English Renaissance
hall
Mr. David L. Einstein's House. 29
hall to a Louis Treize library — abrupt transitions on paper, but graceful
enough in reality. No wainscoting has this library save a richly-carved '^he li-
series of walnut book-cases, five feet and a half high. More than fifty
lineal feet of them stretch along the wall under a frieze three feet
deep, and a ceiling of paneled walnut sixteen feet high, worked in bas-
reliefs after Celtic designs, with interlacing bands. Notice the pleasant
manner in which the decorator has broken the long line of book-cases
by a cabinet on one side of the room and a mantel-piece on the other
side; notice, too, the magnificent carved panels of both cabinet and
mantel-piece. The tone of the hand-decorated leather and velours cov-
ers of the furniture is a pure Vandyke red, repeated in the immense
rug and in the leather paper on the walls. The clock, so heavy that
three men can not lift it, its bell rich and full of tone, was made in
raris, after designs intended to harmonize it with the rest of the room.
The brass chandelier, with forty-eight burners, is another special design
similarly intended, frank, outspoken, and serious, like the spirit that
presided over the ornamentation of the entire apartment; and, accord-
ingly, one is not surprised, when the host goes to the book-shelves and
takes down some favorite volumes, to find that among these are a Di-
rectory of New York City in the year 1793, a file of the ^'Boston
Gazette" during the whole period of the Revolutionary War, and a
Venetian publication dated 1572, and concerned with some reproduc-
tions of very unique pictorial designs of the famous cities of the world.
This fact is significant, and, like the general style of the decoration of
the room, bespeaks the presence of true antiquarian tastes. The library
is a place in which a scholar might write history without distraction.
There hangs in this room a portrait of the host's son, a lad of Portrait by
Eastman
eight or ten years, which bears the autograph of Eastman Johnson, and Johnson.
the date 1882, and which deserves more than a passing notice. Several
years ago the present writer had occasion to say of this artist that his
" perception of character is quick and accurate ; he does his own think-
ing; he prefers truth to melodramatic effect, but seldom puts in jeop-
ardy the popularity of a design; he is patient, industrious, and studi-
ous.
30 Artistic Houses.
ous, never deficient in feeling or in command over his resources, not
always perfect in depth and luminousness of color or tone, but never
metallic or coarse. He has a swift, sure sense of eifect in composition,
and his painting in general is solid and sound." Nothing of this need
be retracted on the present occasion, but, in addition, it may be said
that, since the advent of the younger school of the " Society of Ameri-
can Artists," Mr. Johnson has displayed new possibilities in dealing with
the potencies of color, and nowhere, perhaps, better displayed them
than in this charming portrait of Mr. Einstein's son. The key-note of
the chromatic scheme is the boy's red jacket, which lends, but does not
sell, itself easily to the prevailing tone of the room; the modeling is
excellent, and the sense of life perfect. You do not feel the paint in
this genuine and admirable portrait.
If you stand by the portiere^ in the rear door of the library, and
look into the dining-room, you will see a vivid and fine reproduction
Henri of a Henri Ouatre decoration in its later period. The wood-work is
decoration, mahogany, which appears also in the paneled ceiling, each end of
which, lower than the center, contains beams that brace themselves
against the wall on one end and the main level on the other. The
mantel-piece runs up to the ceiling, and supports it; the painted tiles
around its facing, representing dogs and various hunting-scenes, show
Frerot's clever brush again ; the andirons are enriched with fleurs-de-lis ;
the clock and side-pieces are copies of those in the Louvre, that once
belonged to King Henry IV; the tout ensemble^ in fine, is pure Henri
guatre. There is some excellent wood-carving on the bottom of a
screen whose panels are of Spanish leather, painted with much feeling
for color, and also on the doors and elsewhere. The chandelier, made
after a special design, but reproducing no design, being the fruit of its
own inspiration, contains scores of globes studded with pieces of stained
glass, that simulate jewels, and at night is of remarkable and diversified
luminousness. It is to be observed that, throughout the house, the
stained glass, of which there is an abundance, produces its effects not
by having been painted over the stain, but by the juxtaposition of the
stained
\
^^J?i:=w_
Mr. David L. Einstein's House, 3^
stained pieces themselves. Whatever may be said of the comparative
excellence of American and Enp;lish stained glass, it can not be denied American
° ° ' stained
that, in the capacity for tastefully and effectively arranging the separate Z^^^^-
pieces so that the whole effect shall be fine, the American artist is
the equal of his fellow anywhere. At Mr. Einstein's the results are
obtained solely by this method ; the workmanship and material are
exclusively American ; and the diversified splendor of the glowing jew-
els in the globes of the dining-room chandelier is an interesting expo-
nent of what is doing in this country in the direction we are consider-
ing. Most of the rear wall of the room has been removed to make a
place for a stained-glass window, behind which it is intended to put
an electric light. The illumination thus got will set off to advantage
many of the less conspicuous, but not less interesting, features of this
sumptuous apartment.
Among these features are chiefly to be noted a French china-serv-
ice of the First Empire, and a collection of drinking-glasses from vari-
ous parts of Europe, many of them exact reproductions of rare speci-
mens preserved in public museums — old flagons, and brass, pewter, and
glass cups. Especially attractive is a large cup, almost covered with
light brass rings, which depend from its glassy surface. The host hav- "^reasuTss
ing invaded the Old World with the wherewithal to gratify his anti- ro^-
quarian and artistic tastes, has returned laden with a multitude of
treasures such as prettily adorn homes. From the old Delft plaques
to the old German chandelier in the bay-window, made chiefly of
antlers suspended by a brass chain, and presenting the cleverly-carved
and painted wooden bust of a princess, there is scarcely an ornament
that would not bear extended description. The host's fancy for what
is solid and sterling of days gone by has gratified itself without hin-
drance in the furnishing of this room; and there is not a plate, cup,
vase, or bit of bric-h-brac of any description which, if not original, is
not a faithful copy of an original harbored in some museum of Europe.
To buy outright all the valuables that one sees in foreign museums
would be impossible; to duplicate many of them would be alike im-
possible ;
3 2 Artistic Houses.
possible; but to possess one's self of copies which faithfully preserve
their form and spirit is the very next thing to owning the originals
themselves. Baron Rothschild, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, is said to have
paid two hundred and fifty thousand dollars last year for the original
of an old silver goblet, of which Mr. Einstein owns an excellent
copy; but it would be rash to assert that Mr. Einstein and his
guests derive less pleasure from the beautiful workmanship of that
notable piece than do Baron Rothschild and his guests from the origi-
nal.
Much, indeed, is to be said in favor of the present fashion of hous-
Copies of ing exact reproductions of rare and curious objects of art. The influ-
clussic oh-
jects of ence of the widely-circulated plaster copies of the Elgin marbles illus-
UTt.
trates what can be done in this direction. Photographs of oil-paintings
of the old masters have rendered a similar service; and, when an
American gentleman introduces into his home the forms and colors that
constitute the charm of art-treasures in the museums of the Old World,
he walks on sure ground, and allies himself with the elevating and
refining instrumentalities of the age. The classic has become classic
because it has been found to be endowed with qualities that wear well.
For this reason the classic will probably last. But it is not likely that
a multitude of the vagaries of modern decorative art are other than
short-lived.
Anglo- We pass now to the second floor, and into the front sitting-room.
^Japanese
sitting' Its Style is Anglo- Japanese. The ceiling is of canvas, hand-painted in
greenish blues alternating with tans and reds. The inside panels of the
doors recount the story of Orpheus in delicate line-work of gold upon
a ground of neutral blue. We see an immense ebony mantel, with
cabinets containing bric-h-brac of varied and fine interest — an ivory snuff"-
box of Louis XIV's, a miniature Italian guitar enriched with marquetry,
old Nuremburg samplers embroidered with exquisite grace, an old Ge-
neva watch, a French harp-clock — an ebony writing-case, fitted up to
be a thing of use as well as of beauty, a corner cabinet laden with
specimens of Dresden, Royal Worcester, and enamels, one of the Dres-
den
^Hl
Mr. David L. Einstein's House. 33
den pieces being curious for its successfully illusive treatment of a
woman's gauze veil. Again the visitor is struck with the generous ar-
gosies of foreign travel: the host has ransacked the ends of the earth
for objets d'art. Beside the ebony sofa stands an immense Persian
vase, about five feet high, and the general impression of the room is
of luxury and domesticity combined.
Throwing apart the sliding-doors, the visitor enters through an ante-
chamber, whose furniture consists exclusively of mahogany wardrobes,
into the pink-and-cream bedroom. The wood-work and furniture are Bedroom.
mahogany. The magnificent bureau rises into an arch supported by
columns, each drawer presenting a solid bas-relief of carving. The
mantel is a frame for a large beveled mirror, surrounded by rows of
small beveled mirrors. The pink and cream of the portieres are echoed
in the coverings of the chairs and lounge, in the costly rug, and in
the wall and ceiling decorations. The panels of the door leading into
the wash-room are imitations of some panels in a palace of Salzburg,
seen and admired by the host when on a visit to that picturesque old
city of the Noric Alps, and decorated with squares of creamy plush
beneath a scroll-work of mahogany. It is such delicate little side-dishes
as these that stimulate one's appetite.
The flat roof of the dining-room has been converted into an open- Roof gar-
air garden, surrounded by a high iron railing, up and along which
pleasant vines and flowers find their way. An excellent play-room for
children is this, and a grateful plaisance of a summer night, with
only the stars for interruptions. One might take a sun-bath here in
Roman fashion.
MR. GEORGE F. BAKER'S HOUSE.
A FREE recast of some of the outlines of the interior of Mr.
George F. Baker's fine house, at No. 258 Madison Avenue, has re-
cently been made with excellent effect, and the principal rooms have
been decorated anew and refurnished throughout, presenting some very
chaste and beautiful artistic results, most admired by those best capable
of appreciating them. The hall, generously wainscoted in American 'the hall.
oak, with a frieze of jute brocade, is divided near the center by a
screen, beyond which the massive staircase begins its ascent from a
recess opening into the music-room, and separated from it by another
lightly-constructed and tasteful screen, so that when the music-room is
used by singer or player the sounds of the voice or the piano are car-
ried upward and away through the arched openings.
Entering the drawing-room through the rich and handsome portieres The draw-
of the main hall, the spectator is struck by the facile and mild har-
mony of the loui ensemble^ which has been obtained by the free play
of the strictest principles of good taste, and without the least attempt
at a laborious dimming of tints. The olive-green plush of the furni-
ture upholstering is echoed in the covering of the mantel-shelf, and
cordially greeted by the golden-olive or bronzed-green tone of the
stamped, silk-plush hangings of the walls, to which the intricate, but
never teasing, ornamentation of golden net-work of the ceiling comes Golden
rr net-work
down without an intervening frieze. This net- work presents an effect- of ceiling.
ive example of the painter's brush, and is emphasized by the use of
papier-machS knots or knobs wherever the principal cords cross each
other. So cleverly and lightly were the interlacing cords depicted by
the
\
36
Artistic Houses.
Mantel-
piece.
Paintings
by Schrey-
er^ Goubie,
Boughton^
Merle,
Cahanel,
Eastman
Johnson.
Music-
room.
the artist that the illusion is perfect, and the bufF ground, on which
the net-work is applied, seems sufFused with a gentle radiance. The
wainscot, mantel, and book-cases, as well as the boxes of plants that
line the front bay-window, are of oak stained to the tint of a bright
mahogany, and the mantel, with its choice pieces of cloisonne enamel,
and other porcelains, is so felicitous in pattern and general effect that
a well-known member of the National Academy of Design once ex-
pressed a desire to use it in a background for one of his portraits. An
oblong piece of Japanese embroidery hangs across the upper part of the
opening that faces the bay-window; and among the oil-paintings on
the walls are a characteristic and extremely decorative equestrian piece
by Schreyer; a landscape by Goubie, with horseman and horsewoman
side by side, entitled " The Confidence " ; an interior with figures by
George H. Boughton, much in the style of his old master Edouard
Fr^re, only free from the latter's weakness of touch ; a fancy half-
length by Merle, representing a handsome woman, of blonde complex-
ion and auburn hair, whose dreamy eyes suggest that she is as yet un-
decided whether to answer " Yes " or " No " to the very important
letter held in her hand; another fancy head and bust, by Cabanel, of
exquisite drawing and flesh-tints; and three family portraits by East-
man Johnson, two of them delightful little pictures of children, which
the Union League Club recently welcomed to its hospitable and elegant
gallery, and which are treated so pictorially as to rank among the
most successful and winning genres of that celebrated artist. Two
charming crayon heads by Rowse adorn the music-room, and it is to
be said of these and the other pictures in Mr. Baker's collection that
not one of them fails to excite admiration for its technical merits or
its graceful sentiment. Each is a true work of art, and holds its place
by virtue of that fact.
Between the drawing-room and the dining-room is the music-room.
The ceiling and walls are of flock-paper, with delicate bronzed foli-
ated reliefs on a rose-colored ground, with only a light molding for a
frieze, and all the wood- work consists of American oak. On one of
the
b
Mr. George F. Baker's House. 37
the bands of the wainscot are carved thistles, whose stems project be-
neath the band ; and above the mantel-shelf, with its ruby plush, is a
deep closet for books, flanked on each side by a small cabinet, the
whole of a unique and impressive design. The parquetry of the bare
floor contrasts strongly with the rich leopard hangings of the door-
ways. In the openings of the screen between the music-room and hall
are hangings of silk plush of a "crushed strawberry" color, with
bands of garnet.
The dining-room presents a complex harmony, and invites study, '^he din^
. . ing'Toom,
No guest can sit at its generous board unmoved by the pleasantness of
the deep and significant message of the artistic surroundings. A wain-
scot of antique oak, about ten feet high, extends around the room,
terminating at the top in a series of pretty cabinets of the same mate-
rial, behind whose glass doors appear porcelains and earthenware of ex-
cellent pedigree and color. The effect of this lineal series of antique
oak cabinets is singularly happy, supplementing as it does with utmost
prodigality that of the large and amply-furnished sideboards at each
end of the room. The ceiling, of paneled antique oak, is connected OakceiU
with the walls by a deep and beautiful frieze of painted canvas, and it
is difficult to say which elicits the more admiration, the unconventional
interpretative design of leaf and fruit ornamentation, or the bold and
decisive touches that have wrought the subdued beauty of tones. To
speak of this charming frieze in the language of strict soberness would Artistic
frieze.
be easier were one in the habit of seeing such things oftener, or had
not the artist's work here, as on the ceiling of the drawing-room, borne
itself so capably and feelingly withal that what was originally to enter
into, and become only a part of, a general scheme of decoration, in-
vites comment and attention by reason of its special merits. The con-
cord of the various decorations in these rooms does, indeed, constitute
an exquisite harmony, but the dexterity of the painter's brush shines
with peculiar effulgence. This dining-room, to quote the language of
another, is "like a calm, pleasant, expectant smile on a kindly face —
not a sour stare, nor an obstreperous laugh. If the gaudy red-and-gold
monstrosities
3^ Artistic Houses.
monstrosities of twenty years ago (Louis XV fashions vulgarized) may be
likened to the obstreperous loud laugh, some of the would-be-aesthetic
modern rooms, all splinters and ashen tints (George III modes vulgar-
ized), may be likened to the sour stare. Grim and acidulated in color-
ing, cold and formal in aspect, dotted with heavy high chairs falsely
fathered upon Chippendale, and falsely modeled on Greek forms, and
rickety little tables and sofas, glossy and spotty with inlaying almost
like a snake's skin, and made with sharp legs which seem to prick and
sting the carpet — we find no large conceptions of beauty or pleasant-
Harmony ness either"; and, although greens and blues are not the only tones
that speak eloquently in porcelains, they serve congenial purposes of
accentuation, from their heights above the sideboards and mural cabi-
nets, especially when trying to reflect themselves in the magnificent
Indian rug on the floor, or to compete with the abundance of varied
ferns and bright foliage of tropical plants in the luxuriously-furnished
bay-window, or to contrast their sheen with the modest brown tones
of the • tapestry hangings and table-cover, designed in fruits and flowers,
and decorated with bands of garnet. An interesting array of pictures,
all water-colors, with high lights and deep blues, intense whites and
pearly grays, contribute sparkling effects.
3"?
JUDGE HENRY HILTON'S HOUSE.
The very clever Italian artist Bragaldi has executed all the ceiling
and wall decorations in Judge Hilton's brown-stone house, in West
Thirty-fourth Street, painting them in encaustic so durable of texture
that six years have witnessed no diminution in their luster. Most of
the ceilings are paneled off in stucco of various hues, and most of the
walls in neutral tints bounded by painted borders, but for the most
part hidden by choice oil-paintings on canvas, the judge's collection
being not only large, but extremely brilliant.
Here, for instance, in the reception-room on the first floor, is per-
haps the best extant specimen of Luis Alvarez's work, and we are able Painting
by AlvU'
to quote this artist's own description of it : " The title of the paint- rez.
ing," he says, " is < The Election of a New Cardinal, about the End of
the Reign of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, in 1792,' that is, prior
to the great Revolution, when the popular element gained the ascend-
ant. For this reason I have selected a cardinal who was chosen from
among the people, to counteract the ascendency of the aristocratic fac-
tion, represented on the left by those attired in a court style, and on
the right by a democratic family. The cardinal is shown in the act
of receiving a visit from a nobleman, his wife, and his son, who pre-
sents him a paper on which is written a piece of poetry suitable to
the occasion. Near the door their attending servant is looking atten-
tively at a great vase situated behind the screen, and near the cardinal
is seated a very fat monsignor, who would like to get up from his
chair to pay homage to the noble visitors, but is unable to do so. A
major-domo of his Eminence is close at hand, and on the other side
of
40
Artistic Houses.
Paintings
by Bough-
ton,
Weeh,
of the screen appears a table on which are placed the various gifts
brought to the cardinal on the day of his elevation. You will notice
two monks and a secular priest, looking with a certain air of discontent
at the costly objects. At the entrance-door a servant of the new car-
dinal is dismissing two poor friars who are not dressed in harmony with
the fashionable persons and beautiful ladies present. The Pope, whose
portrait hangs on the wall, is Pius VI, and the interior actually rep-
resents an apartment in the Royal Palace of Caserta, near Naples."
George H. Boughton's " Huguenots," two figures behind an immense
bowlder on the sea-shore, is well known through the engraving. Fir-
min-Girard exhibits two aristocratic lovers at the foot of a cascade in
the woods, and Jiminez his celebrated interior where a competition in
music is taking place. One of E. L. Weeks's Oriental facades, with
Arabs and camels in the sunshine, is treated after Passini's happiest man-
ner. " A Party of Ladies," some of whom are about to step into a
row-boat where the others are already safely located, is by P. Beyle.
The Oriental mosque, opposite Constantinople, with its grave-yard where
the emperors are buried, represents J. L. Gerome admirably. Gabriel
Ferrier's " The Pansy " is a sweet-faced gentlewoman who holds that
flower in an open book in her lap, allowing it to play the part of a
color-focus to her dark chestnut hair, blue dress, and pearl necklace.
Jacquet's half-length of a modest damsel with rich brown eyes, regular
features, oval face, and transparent skin, is honored by a place on an
easel. It is an excellent example of the artist, as one would expect
to see in a collection whose distinguishing feature is precisely this, that
it is almost exclusively composed of works that best represent the artists
whose names they bear. Another characteristic may be mentioned,
namely, that the owner appears not only as a clever connoisseur, but
as a collector whose imagination has not been inflamed by the sight of
mere celebrated names, but whose judgment has prompted every pur-
chase, with the result that he possesses scores of pictures which at the
time they were bought cost not a fourth of what they could be sold
for now. Of unusual importance are Jacque's landscape with sheep,
and
Beyle,
Girome,
Ferrier,
Jacquet,
Jacqvc.
^
yudge Henry Hilton s House. 41
and James Tissot's " Summer Hours," a blonde figure of a distinct
Saxon type, seated on a divan by an open window. The cabinets and
tables are of ebony and gilt, and upon one of them stands a glass cabi-
net filled with rare and curious pieces of hric-h-brac^ chief among which
is a beautifully ornamented gold snuff-box presented by the late Empe-
ror Maximilian. A silver Scandinavian love-cup, bearing the date 1763,
possesses unusual interest.
The library in the rear has furniture of ebony and gilt, with odd ^^^H-
, . , . . hrary,
chairs upholstered in variously-colored plushes \ and its three modern
Italian marble statuettes are in the best style of such work. A half-
length of a handsome, smiling, aristocratic young woman is by R.
Madrazo, and two happy figures on a terrace by Paul Viry in his ^^^ntings
^ ^ by Madra-
most popular manner. More notable still are the grouping and facial ^^> ^^ry,
expressions in Jean Beraud's " Condoleances," where some mourners are Beraud,
passing down the aisle of a crowded church, receiving expressions of
sympathy from many of the spectators, while through the open door in
the street appears the coffin which has just been borne down the steps.
The difficulty of happily treating a subject consisting principally of
many men in full dress and many women in black clothes has been
handsomely overcome by the artist, who tells his sad tale with a dash
of real French piquancy. Vibert appears in a masterly story of a car- nbert,
dinal who, while composing a sermon at a standing-desk, has impa-
tiently crushed in his hand, and thrown upon the floor one by one,
several valuable sheets of unsatisfactory manuscript. Casanova merrily Casanova,
tells of an old monk on a sofa in a splendid drawing-room, listening
to a pair of beauties, one of whom holds his saucer, while he can
hardly touch the cup of chocolate to his lips for laughter at what they
are saying. Falero's " Egyptian Dancing-Girl " is a beautiful and lumi- Faliro,
nous piece of modeling and flesh-tinting. The Jules Dupre, with its Jules Du-
'0ri
belt of sunshine beyond the foreground sheep, and its intense sense of
spaciousness, is one of the great landscapes of that great master — the
last of his Fontainebleau school, which has no successors. Toulmouche's T<?z^/-
full-length of a lady in a light-blue satin dress, looking at herself in a
hand-glass.
r
/
42 Artistic Houses.
hand-glass, and leaning slightly backward, as if proudly satisfied with
the result, has traces of a pictorial dignity which most of his works
lack.
Dining- Farther still in the rear is the splendid dining-room, which Bragaldi
has profusely decorated with garlands, pilasters, and medallions, on
grounds of neutral tints. The wainscot is of ebony delicately inlaid
with light wood, and so are the mantel, the immense sideboard, the
extensive table, the chairs, the casings of the doors, and even the beau-
tiful chandelier (made after Judge Hilton's own design, as were also
the handsome lantern in the hall, the sconces, and several other nota-
ble features of the general scheme of decoration). Six marble statues
or busts, one of them an amazingly striking likeness of the late Sec-
retary Seward, appear at various intervals on pedestals beside the wall.
The chairs are upholstered in flowered silk tapestry with a light-
blue ground. On the mantel are candelabra of African onyx and
gilt, and a magnificent clock of African onyx made by Barbedienne,
and surmounted by a half-recumbent gilt figure. A screen of ebony in
three panels shows three figures, partly of applique work in painted kid,
and partly of cunning embroidery, on a silk ground. Ten oil-paintings
of moderate size hang on the eastern wall, and one of them — a woman
sitting by the sea-shore — is as sparkling a Hagborg as was ever im-
ported into this country.
In furnishing his sumptuous and spacious drawing-room. Judge
Hilton has spared neither expense nor minutest attention to details, as
these were subservient to the artistic effect of the ensemble. His own
Drawing' designing appears again in the two superb mantels of silver-wood,
room man- ^^^^^^ ormulu, and gilt, which face each other in the centers of the
east and west walls ; and the visitor notices that, instead of the con-
ventional pillars, vases are used to support the shelves, and that on
either side of the vases are the registers of the furnace. Eight gilded
torchhes of imposing size vie with a huge chandelier in lighting the
room, reflecting themselves in immense mirrors that stand on the man-
tels, or on either side of the front bay-window, or between the prin-
cipal
L
f
1
jfudge Henry Hilton's House. 43
cipal doors. All the wood-work is of silver-wood, and very striking
and beautiful is the blue or garnet-shaded plush in which the sofas
and chairs are upholstered, shifting its luminous tones by night as
well as by day. The rich hangings of hand-stamped plush correspond
with the coverings of the furniture; and as for the ornaments in silver,
or bronze, perhaps the most distinguished is a silver vase weighing Silver
forty-eight pounds, and enriched with a circumambient procession of
Indians on horseback hunting the bison, each figure modeled in silver.
Some of the judge's visitors will not fail to observe that the principal
group closely resembles the well-known " Hilton Trophy," for the pos-
session of which the marksmen annually compete in the international
rifle-contest at Creedmoor. Near by are two large and highly-deco-
rated bronze busts by Guillemin — the " Woman of Smyrna " and the ^^^«^^
^ ^ busts.
" Zeibecke " — from the Paris Exposition. The center-table, covered
with a mighty slab of Mexican onyx, is laden with curiosities of
special interest, chief among them being a pair of silver " loving-cups,"
one from London, the other from Sweden. Two cabinets, made, like
the center-table, of silver-wood with ebony and gilt decorations, are
conspicuous attractions.
Of the oil-paintings on the walls, " The Defense of Champigny," Painting
by Detaille, is easily the most important. It is an episode of the late f^nie.
Franco-German War, at the moment (writes that artist in a letter to
Judge Hilton) " when the division of General Faron, after taking the
village of Champigny (situated above the Marne), fortified itself there,
and defended, foot by foot, the houses and inclosures against the
return attack of the Saxony and Wurtemberg divisions, in the battle of
December 2, 1870. The chateau which I have shown is one of those
found at the fork of the two roads of Chennevieres — a place well
known to Parisians who took part in the scenes of the siege of Paris.
The officer in the center of the picture is General Faron, who was
appointed general of division on the field of battle. The foot-soldiers
belong to the One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment of the Line,
who lost a great many men in the three days of the fight. The
sappers,
44- Artistic Houses.
sappers, who are making the embrasures in the wall to allow the
sharp-shooters to fire under protection, and are barricading the open-
ings with all kinds of material, and the artillerists who are putting the
battery-guns in position, are likewise under the orders of General
Faron, at that time the commander of the right wing of the French
army. I have endeavored to portray, in the most exact manner pos-
sible, the various scenes of which I was a witness, having myself been
a soldier in the Garde Mobile during the siege of Paris ; and in
painting this work I have had the advantage of being able to repro-
duce some souvenirs absolutely personal. I attach, therefore, much
importance to this painting, and am especially desirous for permission
to exhibit it in Germany, where I have been very particularly solicited
to show my military works. It will be the first time (1879) since the
war of 1870 that French art is exhibited in Germany, and the pres-
ence of military paintings recalling souvenirs of the late contest will
add a peculiar piquancy. I do not doubt that you will consent to
this, and I ask it very earnestly, seeing that there will be only a delay
of two months in forwarding it to America, after which it will take
its place in your collection, for which I am extremely happy."
Paintings Opposite this noble example of Detaille is an interior with ten
by Brozik,
figures, by Vacslav Brozik, the pupil and friend of Munkacsy, whose
style his so closely resembles. A handsome and handsomely-dressed
young woman stands to receive a visitor of the sterner sex, who bows
low as he approaches her, not unmindful of the contiguity of her
father and brother, and three more or less indifferent ladies. The
gamut of illuminated bitumen, which Munkacsy's brush so often trav-
erses, appears also in this skillfully-managed composition. A frankly
and simply conceived nude child four years old, sitting on the end of
Bougue- a curtain on the floor, is a Bouguereau much better in quality than
scores of more pretentious works from the same hand ; so that here
again the visitor notices that, when Judge Hilton owns an example of
Gros. a celebrated artist, it is characteristic of that artist's best traits. Gros's
large war-scene — prisoners brought before a sort of barbaric court-mar-
tial
1
Judge Henry Hilton s House. 45
tial — won for its author the Prix de Rome ; and Du Paty's landscape
with figures in Munich style was recently a sensation at the Salon.
The frescoed walls of the music-room are covered with some ex- Music-
room,
quisite oil-paintings by Capobianchi, Meissonier 7?//, and others, the
Capobianchi having been executed for one of the Paris Rothschilds,
and showing the form and features of a late well-known New York
society belle ; while the figures of the monks that enrich the landscape
of the younger Meissonier were evidently introduced by his proud and
more celebrated parent. The costly furniture discloses some fine exam-
ples of marquetry, and there are several magnificent Sbvres and onyx
vases near the onyx clock.
In an extension to the main building, and directly over the dining-
room, are Judge Hilton's private sitting-room and bedroom, the former Frrvate
ks comfortably elegant an apartment as can be seen in a Sabbath-day's room.
journey. Its center- table of Dutch marquetry, its sideboard (with silver
vases and other ornaments) of old English marquetry, its curtains of
crimson brocatelle, its door-casings and window-frames of French wal-
nut, its large ebony cabinet containing carefully-arranged boxes of
manuscript, and its small glass cabinet on a Louis XVI stand of inlaid
satin-wood, with multifold curiosities — a French repouss^ silver sugar-
bowl, such as one might select for the delectation of a connoisseur
who was his dearest friend ; an antique silver ink-stand extraordinarily
heavy for its size, and most delightfully sculpturesque in the figures
that adorn it ; a meerschaum pipe, with carved figure (an excellent
likeness) of Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia; and many other things
of beauty — act skillfully their several parts in the play of decoration,
accompanied by that lovely piece of color, Marchetti's ^' Circassian
Girl " lying on a divan in a harem, who embodies in her expression
and attitude a synopsis of the natural history of that effete institution.
A Rico, that is a revelation or a reminiscence, according as the visitor
has or has not seen Venice ; a Knyff, whose moisture-laden atmosphere
of Holland contrasts with the clear skies of the Bride of the Adriatic j
a Protais, soldiers marching at misty dawn ; and an Alfred Kappes, an
old
yv
46 Artistic Houses.
Bedroom,
old woman paring potatoes, and sustaining the artistic reputation of her
country in the midst of the fierce competition of her surroundings — are
paintings in this private sitting-room that one is loath to leave.
The judge's bedroom, immediately in the rear, is furnished in
black-walnut, with brocatelle hangings a shade darker than the bronze-
green of the carpet, the bed covered with a spread whose diamonds of
l'> blue satin alternate with diamonds of point-lace, and the dressing-room
and bath-room, on either side of the alcove occupied by the bedstead,
fitted up in black- walnut with all the latest conveniences. The cen-
ter-table, handsomely carved, is confronted by an ebony screen with
panels of hand-painted glass tiles. A large clock of bronze and gilt,
flanked by two candelabra of the same materials, fill the mantel-shelf;
and a very heavy though not very large jewel-case of hardened steel,
intricately wrought, rests on a stand near an easy-chair upholstered in
crimson plush. The two principal pictures on the walls possess un-
usual merit : one of them, a water-color representation of the interior
Meisso- of Meissonier's simply-furnished studio, by a pupil of that artist, fasci-
niefs
studio. nates by its neat, clear, and unembarrassed execution, by its high finish
and great brilliancy of color, and is a fine and solid study of varied
hues and contrasted textures ; the other, by Galofre, deserves the com-
panionship of the Marchetti in the sitting-room, showing the full-
length, scantily-draped, recumbent figure of an odalisque^ who toys with
several birds of gay plumage, one of which has nonchalantly alighted
on her uplifted right hand, the most vivid and arresting point of the
delineation being her entire unconsciousness of her charms.
It would take the visitor a long time to exhaust the resources of
artistic pleasure in Judge Hilton's elegant mansion.
1
MR. FREDERICK F. THOMPSON'S HOUSE.
The broad and commanding fagade of Mr. Frederick F. Thompson's
house, at No. 283 Madison Avenue — his building-lot is forty- two feet
wide — does not deceive the spectator who supposes that behind it are
concealed features of special interest. An air of spaciousness pervades
the noble apartments of the principal floor, and the lighting is so gener-
ous and facile as to communicate good cheer on every hand. In all the
most characteristic details of construction and equipment, the architect
has followed the ideas conceived and promulgated by the hostess and
the host, who have made the place the embodied reflection of their
joint ideal of what a city home should be. A hundred little details
of foresight in the interest of convenience and hygiene might be men-
tioned, which to many householders in this city would be veritable
novelties, and the sum of which tells strongly in the estimation of the
general result. Take so simple a thing as the secret staircase leading Secret
° staircase.
by a concealed door from the inner vestibule, at the left, to the second
floor, and enabling the visitor to remove his " wraps," and enjoy the
facilities of the toilet, before making his appearance in the main hall
by way of the principal staircase. Of course, a dressing-room on the
first floor, communicating directly with the vestibule, would have an-
swered the same purpose ; but then the dimensions of the drawing-
room would necessarily have been curtailed to make room for it, or
else the arrangement of the entire first floor so changed as to produce
an altogether different effect. The many telegraph-boys who have
occasion to call at Mr. Thompson's house find their comfort considered
in the presence of a low coil of steam-pipe, on which, when occupying
the
yi
4^ Artistic Houses.
the leather-upholstered settee, they can toast their well-developed feet
until the answer is ready. The gas in the lantern of the outer ves-
tibule can not be turned off by a mischievous urchin on a tour
of experiment, because the means for extinguishing it are inside the
inner doors, not far from a small tiled recess furnished with an um-
brella-rack.
"the hall. Beyond this inner vestibule, and hidden by a heavy portiere of
Eastern stuffs, lies the immense hall, eighteen by thirty-eight feet, the
ceiling and walls paneled in oak, and the handsome mantel of carved
Caen stone colored to resemble terra-cotta, and placed at the extreme
northern end under an arched recess. An oaken covered chest for
hickory-wood stands near, and a coat-closet, at the left, opens by a
concealed door into the space beneath the secret staircase, bidding
defiance to the machinations of the sneak-thief. The tall Dutch clock
of carved oak strikes every hour twice — the second time three minutes
after the hour — so that the conscience of the promptest guest may have
elbow-room in meeting the hours appointed for meals ; if only three
minutes late, he is not late at all^ and on the metallic face of the
instrument, beneath the revolving hands, is engraved the legend, " He
that hath most time hath none to lose."
There are other legends in the house. You turn to the right, at
the farther extremity of the hall, and, while ascending the stairs, are
Stained' confronted by a stained-glass window, the first of a series of eight or
glass witi'
dmv, iiius' ten, illustrating the " Pilgrim's Progress," that light the ascent to the
''Pilgrim's fourth floor by means of a wide well behind them — on which appears
an introductory poem taken from the title-page of a very ancient
edition of that Christian classic :
" This book it chalketh out before thine eyes
The man that seeks the everlasting prize ;
It shows you whence he comes, whither he goes.
What he leaves undone, also what he does ;
It also shows you how he runs and runs,
Till he unto the gate of glory comes."
And,
/
1
Mr. Frederick F. Thompson's House. 49
And, as the visitor proceeds on the upward way, he is constantly con-
fronted by pictorial representations in stained glass of the pious Pilgrim
who, like himself, finally reaches the delectable heights.
Japanese in feeling, though not a slavish imitation, is the drawing- 'fkedraiv-
ing-room.
room on the first floor, with its wide bay-window, in which rare exotic
plants, and especially lilies, are always blooming — a feature that passers-
by never fail to notice. The wood- work throughout — mantel, furni-
ture, flower-boxes, and window-trimmings — is of red cherry, which
gives the key-note to the prevailing tone. Even the grand piano was
made to order of red cherry, richly carved. The dull Indian red of
the painted walls, enriched with ornamental disks, lightens somewhat as
it approaches the frieze, whence the ceiling springs gracefully in real
bronze reliefs of alternating sunflowers and tiger-lilies. On the wain-
scot of green, grained with old gold, appear at intervals perpendicular
pieces of bamboo, which enter into the decoration also of the richly-
carved mantel, on one end of whose shelf is perched a gorgeous pea-
cock, magnifying in death the taxidermist's art, and radiating the luster
of his handsome tail in front of the splendor of a sunset Venetian
marine by Sanford R. Giffbrd. On the opposite wall is Leutze's Paintings.
" Return of the Crusaders," unfortunate fellows who find their wives
immured in a convent, and are met by an iron railing and a depre-
cating Lady Superior when trying to grasp them in their arms. A
thoroughly representative landscape by A. H. Wyant — that is to say,
one in which subtile beauty of conception vies with subtile felicity of
execution — is surrounded by examples of J. B. Bristol, William Hart,
Kensett, and other Americans, Mr. Thompson being a discriminating
patron of native art. The ceiling has been painted an illuminated
buff:
The Moorish feeling of the library — a room thirty feet square — like Moorish
decoration
the Japanese feeling of the drawing-room, results from a suggestion in library.
rather than from an imitation, although the stucco arabesques of the
paneled ceiling, the cup-lights of the chandeliers, and the open screen-
work of ebonized pear-wood of the shutters to the bay-window of
stained
50 Artistic Houses.
stained glass, beyond the arch of the deep alcove, are very direct
expressions. To a height of seven feet and a half the walls are wain-
scoted with maple shelves filled with three thousand books, each shelf
being above a slide that can be pulled out and used as a rest for the
volume that one is consulting. The Caen-stone facing of the fire-
opening of the mantel is inscribed with the legend, " Knowledge in
youth is wisdom in old age."
iVaii' The wall-spaces, painted in neutral tints, are mostly covered with
spaces.
oil portraits and figure-pieces, one of them a bust of the sculptor
Thorwaldsen. Above and below the book-shelves, in the maple panel-
ing, concealed cupboards, which only the hostess knows, wait uncon-
scious to reveal their miscellaneous choice contents. Every spare space
has been utilized in some way or other ; even the under parts of the
long divans have sliding cases for the larger books on art. In the
center of the ceiling — and, indeed, of every ceiling of the house — is a
ventilator, which communicates with a flue in the chimney so faith-
fully that a leakage in one of the gas-pipes of the chandelier remained
undiscovered for several months. Costly Eastern rugs lie easily on the
floor, and chief among the articles of furniture is a lady's writing-desk
of maple, whose panels and decorations were made out of a log of
olive-wood sent from the Mount of Olives to Mrs. Thompson by Dr.
Post, of Beyrout. A small door-way through the book-shelves leads to
Mr. Thompson's private study, fitted with desk, table, and lounge, and
opening into a small dressing-room whose wood-work is butternut.
Dining- Almost as large as the library is the dining-room, finished and fur-
nished in mahogany. Its wainscot, ten feet high, and intricately pan-
eled, is surmounted by a frieze of fruits and flowers carved skillfully
in high-relief. Its mantel, principally of terra-cotta^ with mahogany
enrichments, bears near the top the legend, ''Be as merry as good
company, good welcome, and good cheer can make good people."
Above the wall-spaces of flock-paper the ceiling springs in a pleasing
arch of mahogany beams to a central square of stained glass; and over
the elaborate sideboard which is built out from the wainscot of a
narrow
room.
Mr. Frederick F, Thompson's House. 51
narrow recess diffuses the deep splendor of a magnificent stained-glass
sunset-landscape with birds, trees, and flowers, the perspective and
the color being extraordinarily successful. Small cabinets, say four feet
square, delicately constructed and enriched, project at intervals from the
upper part of the wainscot, and disclose their treasures of rare porcelain
and faience ; and a large conservatory framed in brass, adorned with a
fountain, and alive with palms and most luxuriant ferns, plays the part
of an extension to this delightful resort for feasts and flow of soul.
Let us go up-stairs. To the fourth floor the hall is of paneled
oak ; but the two curiosities of these upper regions are the Colonial Colonial
^^ ^ Room.
Room and the Governor's Room, in the second story front, the former
a reproduction of Revolutionary times, containing not a piece of fur-
niture less than a hundred years old. Even the facing of the fire-
place is of old blue Dutch tiles brought over by the colonists ; and
the corner cupboard extending to the ceiling, with the small glass
panes of its doors and the old blue china behind them — how interest-
ing a souvenir of the good old days it is ! Near it hangs a sampler,
a real old New England sampler, fourteen inches by fourteen, simply
embroidered on canvas beautifully toned by time, and exquisitely deco-
rative, with a border of indisputably conventionalized flowers and plants,
and a center containing the alphabet and the numerals, followed by
the verse : " Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain ; but a woman that
feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." Ah ! Margaret Waterman,
pauvre petite y who madest this sampler in the year 1769 (as an inscrip-
tion in the corner tells us), did thy neighbors and kinswomen, then,
call thee plain ? On a green ground a young woman, also highly con-
ventionalized, is seen holding a parrot at which a dog tries to gaze ;
and below we are informed that " the heavens declare the glory of
God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork." The curtains of the
book-case consist of an old silk shawl with fringe, of a dull purple
tint ; and beside the fender are the antique hob (once used to keep
the toddy warm), the faithful bellows, and the tongs. Several panels
in the wainscot wait to serve as doors to secret closets for those who
know
52 Artistic Houses.
know where to look for them; and carved in the wood- work of the
chimney-piece is the legend, " The name of this chamber is peace."
The Governor's Room (so named because occupied by Mrs. Thomp-
son's father, an ex-governor of the State, during his visits to New York
I'he Gov- City) has two unique features ; first, the bedstead of Honduras mahog-
ernor's
Room. any, with high, carved posts, which is from the residence King Louis
Philippe occupied when a school-teacher at Canandaigua, in New York
State, and which was presented to Mrs. Thompson by Mrs. Judge Tay-
lor, of that village, who owns the house where the relic was ; secondly,
the rag carpet, made to order, and displaying some surprisingly decora-
tive qualities.
The wood- work of Mrs. Thompson's bedroom is of cherry, the
furniture of mahogany, and the frieze a beautiful specimen of orna-
mental hand-painting. The tiles in the facing of the fire-place of her
dressing-room were painted by a clever amateur, a daughter of the late
Dr. Daggett, of Yale College, to tell the story of " The House that
Jack built." The third story, finished in butternut, is devoted to guest-
rooms; the fourth story, in Georgia pine, chiefly to Mr. Thompson's
music-room, with piano, organ, banjo, flute, and so on ; and the fifth
story to what is called, by the family, his " den," with vast array of
apparatuses for chemical experiments, for photography, for printing, for
carpentry, and other industrial arts in which the host is an amateur.
Hydraulic The hydraulic elevator, from top to bottom of the house, has a
elevator. iriiri •! i*
threefold safeguard to prevent accidents: whenever a door is opened an
electric buzzing indicates that fact, so that nobody on any other floor
will pull the rope to lower the machine; no door can be opened unless
the elevator is directly opposite it; nor can the rope be pulled while
any door is open. The gas throughout the house is lighted by elec-
tricity. In the basement the billiard-room, with its huge brick fire-
place, and the bowling-alley, built on a brick arch to prevent noise,
are furnished with all the modern improvements, in a style simply
luxurious.
(
1
MR. GEORGE KEMP'S HOUSE.
To enter the drawing-room of Mr. George Kemp's stately mansion,
No. 720 Fifth Avenue, is to refresh one's self with a delicious melody
of color. The general motive of the decoration is Arabic, with an Arabic
inclination to the Persian in the forms, the purpose of the artist having
been to produce utmost delicacy of linear and chromatic effect; and so
generous were the resources of his art, flexible and varied the methods
of his technique^ that the finished result possesses to an extraordinary
degree the charm of ceaseless suggestiveness and tireless unfolding.
Especially is this the case with reference to the iridescent metallic
tones of the silvered ground of the ceiling, as these glow and play in
the embrace of the caressing light, inviting the attention of the specta-
tor afresh with each change of his position. Wherever he stands, the
diverse beauties of that shimmering expanse attract his eye and fascinate
his fancy; and if he has the good fortune to be present about mid-day,
say between the hours of eleven and two, when the opalescent and
other hues of the stained glass of the magnificent bay-window are
quickened by the pervasive sunshine and reflected not only on the ceil-
ing but in the deep stillness of the mirror on the opposite side of the
room, the diversified splendor is beautiful beyond description.
This iridescent ceiling is relieved by a cornice which, instead of
projecting, recedes, adding to the lightness of the effect and to the
general breadth. The deep frieze is composed of a pattern of circles "the frieze.
and squares interlaced; and, in order to gain in size, the bay-window
has been treated as a part of the room, its slender columns of holly
taking the place of the usual heavy mullions. The ease and grace with
which
54- Artistic Houses.
Holly- which this wood enters into the general scheme of Arabic decoration
wood.
was fully appreciated by the artist, who has used it in the door-casings,
the chairs, the tables, and even in the grand piano, a notable piece of
furniture, enriched with light moldings and marquetry of mahogany.
Even the cabinet for music-books was especially manufactured, so that
the quiet blue plush of its covering strikes no discordant note; and the
two luminous and fine examples of Pasini, which hang on the walls in
company with one or two water-colors, were selected for the position
Harmony bccause of their natural affinity for it. The more carefully the specta-
of details,
tor examines into details, the more confident is his conviction that not
an article of furniture or ornamentation in this artistic apartment was
put there save under the guidance of an intelligent purpose faithfully
exercised and lavishly equipped — for cost has not been counted, but
only the exigency of the decorative scheme as it inch by inch unfolded
itself; and since the evolution of such a pictorial idea never completely
embodies itself at once, it follows that Mr. Kemp's necessity, as well
as his delight, has been, and still is, to add to the beauties of this
room such other beauties as lucky opportunity and diligent search
and unwearied patience may procure. But, though susceptible of an
indefinite amount of adornment, like a beautiful woman, the place
Notable lacks nothing. Extremely notable is the mantel, built of a reddish
mantel.
wood, and inlaid with hexagonal specimens of seventeen other woods
so arranged as to produce a highly-complicated and finely-gradationed
effect. The wainscoting, similarly composed, extends around the room.
Opalescent glass tiles surround the fire-place opening, which is backed
by real old Arabian tiles (as their inimitably lovely blue tones indicate),
imported expressly for the purpose. The treatment of the mirror over
the mantel reflects that of the general wood-work, which presents but
few projections, though these are very marked — as, for instance, the two
low shelves on either side of the mantel, which support a pair of
superb vases, and the mirror itself, composed of small pieces of bev-
eled glass, and surmounted by a horizontal panel of Japanese brocade,
woven with wonderful elaboration and beauty, is confronted by three
small
Mr. George Kemp's House. SS
small lanterns of translucent blue-glass globes which diffuse within the
mirror a soft and mild radiance. On one side of the mantel a door
opens to the hall ; on the other side an alcove protects the larger
picture by Pasini, which is lighted by a special reflector of sawed and
engraved brass — an honest way of treating a fine oil-painting.
At the west side of the room a door to the dining-room and an-
other door to a secret cabinet slide on wheels hung entirely on the
exterior of the wall, and between these openings is a pierced carved
panel of white holly. The secret cabinet contains various curiosities of ^^^f^^
^ -^ cabinet.
porcelain and bric-a-brac^ worthy of extended description, as also is a
somewhat similar series selected from the collection of Mr. Samuel
Colman, and arranged by him in a fashion so deft as to constitute a
special study. The walls, for the most part, are hung with plush of a
delicate shade, in which appear designs corresponding with the ara-
besques of several panels of plaster-of-Paris. Bluish-toned rugs, also
appropriate in pattern, cover the floor; and the lighting is done, with-
out chandeliers or sconces, by means of four large hanging lanterns of
Persian designs, each one different, and having jets both inside and out-
side. These lanterns depend from near the four corners of the room,
and three smaller ones hang from the arch of the bay-window.
Behind the enchanting drawing-room is the dining-room, finished in
carved oak, with massive sideboard of the same wood, lofty, wide, and
variously enriched. The oak paneling of the walls, extending to a Oak pan-
height of about ten feet, is met by a deep frieze, painted on gilded dining-
° room.
canvas by Tiffany, to represent a succession of fruits, plants, and vege-
tables, and producing a unique and charming decorative effect, with its
broad and bold realism, its soft and rich execution, and its appreciation Frieze in
dining-
of the coloristic possibilities of the subject. It is not easy to exagger- room.
ate the beauty of keeping with which this pictorial and highly-pictur-
esque work takes its place as the leading attraction of the dining-
room. The double transoms of the four windows, one in front of the
other, lend a subdued and almost mysterious air to the light that passes
through thin colored glass above the heavy hangings of embroidered
plush
56 Artistic Houses.
plush. The porti^res^ of similar material, constitute some of the most
beautiful specimens of pure and picturesque embroidery ever wrought in
this country. One of them represents "Titian's Daughter" (after the
celebrated oil-painting of that name), a brilliant example of needle-
woven tapestry and appliqu^ work.
i:heli' Of mahogany is the wood- work of the library, in front of the
hrary.
drawing-room. Here the bronze of the plush hangings echoes itself in
the lighter shade of the plush of the same tint that covers the chairs.
Against the gilt cove of the frescoed and lightly-paneled ceiling various
iridescent shells have been thrown. The walls are hung in a costly
silk stuff, above which stretches a band of embroidered plush. On
either side of the principal entrance are sunset effects by George H.
Yewell and F. A. Silva — one a view of the Rialto, the other a coast-
scene; while in the main panel of the mantel, whose canopy of carved
mahogany rests upon slender columns of Alps-green marble, is inserted
an interior of the Ducal Palace of Venice, also painted by Mr. Yewell.
Between the two front windows stands a beautiful writing-desk sur-
mounted by a cabinet, and all the furniture is of chastely-elegant de-
signs. A sumptuous piece of Persian embroidery has been put in a
gilt frame and hung as a pendant to a glowing still-life by Robie.
"f he hall. The feature of the hall is the delightful perspective through the
arch in front of the stairs, across the first landing, and thence to the
stained-glass window in the rear. It is a suggestion from the Cluny
Palace, worked out in a spirit of creative freedom. The large register
in the high wainscoting of oak has been surrounded with glass tiles so
as to produce a fire-opening effect; and the tone of the whole is kept
down by an Eastern rug one hundred and fifty years old. The walls
T:hevesti- of the vestibule display glass tiles curiously colored in dashes of blue.
bule.
No person of artistic susceptibility can enter Mr. Kemp's noble house
without feeling an immediate and continued appeal to his most culti-
vated fancies and emotions.
MR. F. W. HURTT'S HOUSE.
One of the charming cottages of the highlands at Yonkers is that
of Mr. F. W. HuRTT, situated on the banks of the lordly Hudson,
directly opposite the Palisades, and commanding a view down the river
and across the Bay of New York. Every room, by means of bay-win-
dow or other projection, overlooks the broad expanse of water; and,
when it was desired to add two new apartments, these were thrown
directly over the carriage-way, and supported by pillars.
The most notable feature of the interior, as seen in the plates, is
undoubtedly the library (between the drawing-room and the dining-
room), which has been decorated and furnished with great care and in- f^JJ^^^^
telligence in a strictly Moresque style, and so successfully, that one of
the rising young artists in this country, whose interiors have already
brought him into very flattering notice, recently expressed a desire to
make a painting of it on canvas. Every article of furniture, except
the frames of the chairs, was selected and bought by Mrs. Hurtt her-
self in Morocco. The hangings are Moorish embroideries on a ground
of yellow silk, or a fabric closely resembling silk, the art of manu-
facturing which is lost. Along the center and extending the whole
length of the black-satin cover of the lounge is a Moorish woman's
wedding-sash, the fringe on the ends of which touches the floor, the
sash itself being almost as stiff" as a board, by reason of the abun-
dance of its gold-thread, so that one wonders how a bride ever wore
it about her waist. The walls oflFer a choice assortment of Alhambra
decorations, and nearly all the designing is in gold on a solid ground.
Between the library and the drawing-room rises a triple arch of true
Alhambra
\'* -
k
5^ Artistic Houses.
Moorish
ornaments.
Alhambra pattern, colored in red, gold, blue, and black. The silyered-
bronze vessel, filled with rose-water, which the Moorish host offers to
his guest, that he may dip his fingers into it, can not fail to win at-
tention; and, if he sees a fan lying on a table, the visitor may be
sure it is a Moorish one. Under the five small Moorish arches above
the principal shelf of the mantel appear picturesque Spanish figures in
colored clay, and on the higher shelf various Moorish ornaments and
utensils of hammered brass and other material, the collection surmounted
by a pair of Moorish candlesticks, which, with their wax-tapers, take
the place of sconces. The grate is a swinging basket, which carries
out the Moorish idea as nearly as was possible in a modern house;
and the furniture, with its tawny-red plush and yellow satin, has been
enriched by Moorish embroideries. All the pictures hung in the room
are sketches of Moorish towns or Alhambra models.
wmZs. ^ ^^"^y ''''''i''^ ^^^ beautiful effect is that of the windows. At
about the height of one's head a light rod crosses them, and upon it
are hung some Moorish curtains. Across the top stretches a band of
fretwork, with stained glass, and between the top and bottom are panes
of plain glass, through which the eye reaches to the plants in the con-
servatory. This happy stroke of artistic decoration was Mrs. Hurtt's
idea, and her cultivated taste appears in every characteristic feature of
the house. The floor is covered with a moquette carpet with a dark-
maroon border, over which are several Turkish rugs, and the ceiling
represents in fresco some stars shining through dark clouds of night.
It was said that in such a room no book-cases could be put
with any pretext of propriety; but, as books are very useful in a
library, the hostess solved the difficulty by getting her carpenter to fit
into the walls a series of low shelves — not higher than the back of an
ordinary chair — and covering them with capuchin-red plush, which has
a slight yellow tinge, and does not put in jeopardy the red of the
surrounding Alhambresque mural ornamentation.
In order that the Moorish feeling of the library might not intrude
upon the parlor (whose scheme of decoration is distinctly different), the
effect
Mr. F. W. Hurtfs House. 59
eiFect of the triple arch was neutralized, so far as the latter room is
concerned, by hangings that conceal the two smaller openings. Here
the general tone of the furniture and embroideries is a peacock-blue, ^^^^<^^
^ decoration.
the furniture being covered with plush of that hue, except the smaller
chairs, which show the delicate tint known as the robin's-egg blue.
The walls are frescoed in yellow and in pale blue, and the frieze of
solid gold-leaf looks as if several peacock- feathers had been tossed up
and stuck there. This use of the peacock-feather, it may be observed,
was a startling novelty when first introduced into Mrs. Hurtt's parlor, in
days long previous to those when the sale of peacock-feathers became a
chief industry on the sidewalks of Fourteenth Street. The ceiling is in
gold and silver of Japanese design. All the doors are sliding, and, if
we push aside the farthest one, we enter the English dining-room,
where the ceiling of beaded oak, with conventional ornamentation in
the cornice, protects the oak and ash furniture, the ash floor, and the
sideboard of ash, with its red panels of embossed leather, harmoniously
responding to the orange-red effect of the hangings.
A very pretty bedroom has a ceiling of Japanese fans placed so as Ceiling of
partly to overlap one another. The tone of the apartment is a deli-Z^'^-f-
cate yellow, with just enough red to relieve it; and the ebonized fur-
niture and mantel, painted sketchily in wild flowers in Japanese style,
looks entirely at ease when set off" by the dark-gold wall-paper, orna-
mented with Japanese horse-chestnut designs. Mr. Hurtt's house is not
the costliest in the country, nor " such as might provoke the Persian,
were he to teach the world riot anew " ; but it shows how easily an
artistic atmosphere may be produced where there are artistic gifts to
create it.
MRS. JOHN A. ZEREGA'S HOUSE.
An English reviewer, after noting that changes in taste are con-
stant, " every new fact being put forth with the solemnity of infallible
dogma," nothing being permanent " except brass fenders," asks how
anybody can be certain of anything in household art, " when even the 9^^"flJ^
authentic Chippendale (like the General Councils) may err, and some- ^'•^•
times has erred ? Clearly, household art belongs, as philosophers say,
to the realm of the contingent, and the moral is, that no one should
give himself much trouble about the matter, except at the prompting
of his natural taste." He might have added, that in some American
houses this is precisely what the owners have done ; and although it
may be true, as he asserts, that " Englishmen have no style of their
own because they know too much of the styles of the past, and learn-
ing has choked originality," his observation does not apply to all of us
Americans, nor would he insinuate that it did were he familiar with
the interior of such a house as that of Mrs. John A. Zerega, at No.
38 West Forty-eighth Street, where the taste of the mistress, instead of
displaying itself in " a series of rapid transformations, or in muddling
together, in picturesque confusion, strays of the furniture of a dozen
periods and races," has produced choice, discreet, and original harmon-
ies, interesting and pleasing alike to Philistines and to children of light.
And there is not a "brass fender" in the house — nor a fender of any
sort, the mistress believing that a fire-place is a natural center of attrac-
tion, and consequently that the repelling fender has no business there.
It is not the expenditure of immense sums of money in the deco-
ration of the rooms in Mrs. Zerega's house that has afforded her taste
the
^2 Artistic Houses.
the opportunity to unfold itself, but rather the gift of discerning artistic
possibilities in almost all sorts and conditions of things, and the apti-
Reception- tude for Utilizing those possibilities. The reception-room is Japanese
Japanese in spirit, vet that spirit is by no means narrow or severe. The por-
decoration.
tieres are of Japanese stuffs, designed by Lafarge after a Japanese
picture of a portibre^ in deep shades of shaded maroon, with narrow
bands of gold, the borders enriched by four bows intermingled with
a Japanese material and brown satin \ and just above them, and hung
on separate rods, appears a sort of frieze lambrequin, gold-embroidered,
with shaded grays and browns on a pale-blue ground. The window-
curtains consist of pieces of variegated old Japanese priests' robes, of
pale-blue crape embroidered in gold, red, and greens, the whole insert-
ed in a frame of pomegranate plush, which is bordered on the sides and
bottom with tassels to correspond with the colors in the embroidery;
while the window has an upper band of Japanese stained glass, above
which is seen a pale evening effect, with two conventionalized birds
on a branch under a crescent moon. The back of a comfortable
divan near by is partly hidden by antimacassars of Japanese silver
crape, the seat showing pale shades of Japanese patterns enriched with
old gold that blends with other gold, and the border a fringe that
harmonizes with the border of the rug below it.
Competing with this delicately true gamut of color, but not antago-
nizing it, are two objects fastened on the walls in a fashion daring if
not defiant, and so successfully withal as at once to amuse and delight
Immense the spectator. One of them is an immense Japanese fan, opened to
fan. its full extent and six feet wide, painted by hand, and imported in
a case as big as a coffin ; the other a Japanese bill of lading, cov-
ered with mysterious Japanese characters, and inviting the visitor to ask
the hostess (who, by-the-way, saw it in some debris of a fancy-goods
establishment, and carried the trophy off for its immediately discerned
adaptability to its present use), " Won't you tell me the story about
that ? " An ebony cabinet made to order after a Japanese design,
with quaint and conspicuous silver scroll hinges and lock, is filled with
various
L
Mrs. jfohn A. Zerega's House.
63
various porcelains which act briskly their part as color- foci. And not
far ofF, of course, one sees a piquant little divinity of Japan — an idol
that a woman might worship with little trepidation.
Like the furniture in general, the mantel is of ebony, with here Mantel-
piece.
and there a bamboo effect. A mirror behind it reflects many pieces
of porcelain or faience^ some of them massive, and standing in in-
closures that were made to suit them. A pleasant and grateful touch
is the shelf filled with books not too good for daily use, which hangs
just over the hearth ; and very beautiful, of exquisite design and work-
manship, are the tiles that decorate the facing of the fire-place with
their painted storks, black birds, red birds, fans, jars, daisies, and gold
effects on grounds of a delicate pale blue. Let us note that the beau-
tiful border of the floor is not of parquetry, as might seem to be the
case, but has been painted in stencil after designs furnished by the
hostess, whose individuality has found charming expression in every
notable feature of the house.
The hall, through which we pass on our way to the drawing-room,
constitutes, one might say, a private and very select exhibition of por-
tihres. Even the staircase is draped. The glass of a Turkish lantern
of abundantly perforated old brass presents, when lighted, a deeply lus-
trous ruby effect. A lady's handsome writing-desk in the rear, near
the classical lamp on the newel-post, seems to show that this cozy
retreat, bounded by hanging stuffs of subdued rich tints, answers a very
practical purpose. And as we pass into the drawing-room we uncon-
sciously turn around to look at the portihre^ " stiff with embroideries of
illustrious names " (as Macaulay would say), against which our shoulders
have sacrilegiously brushed.
This splendid portibre-^ easily the principal feature of the apartment, ?ortitre by
Lafarge.
was designed by Mr. Lafarge, after a pencil-drawing by Mrs. Zerega,
and executed by the ladies in Miss Tillinghast's studio. It is a sunset
landscape, wrought somewhat in the style of the embroideries recently
exhibited in New York by Mrs. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and cast-
ing its flush of evening splendor in silver gleams of sunset on a high
ground
rfc-^rrfc
^4- Artistic Houses.
ground covered with peonies, in the midst of an environment of ex-
quisite rich browns, olives, and golds, a great feeling of atmosphere, a
solid study of varied hues and contrasted textures, a broad and harmo-
nious wealth of chiaro-oscuro^ a wise balancing of tones, a finely-har-
monized scheme of coloring, and a rare capacity on the part of the
artists to see their subject as a whole, so that we may speak of this
portiere as an epoch-making work of picturesque embroidery, in the
sense that the drop-curtain of the Madison Square Theatre is, the
effects being obtained partly by pure embroidery and partly by the
juxtaposition of variously-colored stuffs.
Embroid' Not less artistic and fully as beautiful in its way is an embroidered
ered , ^ ''
screen. Screen, in which a woodland nymph (or a Jessica^ if we please), of
lovely expression and graceful pose^ stands against a tree in a highly-
poetic moonlit landscape, with a Renaissance border, watching for the
coming of her lover. The composition is taken directly from one of
Mr. John Lafarge's paintings, and the method employed is that now
known in this country as " needle-woven tapestry," in which the needle
of the embroiderer follows the horizontal lines that the weaver follows
when working his thread into the cloth. Each effect is produced
exclusively in this fashion ; there are no perpendicular or diagonal
lines ; and the material used as a ground is a canvas specially prepared
for the purpose. To artists who have never seen specimens of what
can be done in needle-woven tapestry, this screen would be a marvel
of workmanship ; and to any of them who should ask, " Why expend
so much time with the needle in creating effects that might more
easily have been obtained with pigments ? " the answer would be,
" Precisely such beautiful effects as are wrought out in this screen could
not be obtained with pigments at all." Tiresome though the process
of producing such varied and subtile beauty with the needle must be,
it is difficult to conceive how any person of taste could ever tire of
the beauty of the result. Of how many oil-paintings in our drawing-
rooms could the same be said with truth ?
The presence of such work in a drawing-room exacts no slight
solicitude
L
Mrs. yohn A. Zerega's House. 65
solicitude for a suitable and adequate environment, and the mistress of
the house has sedulously addressed herself to the business of properly-
surrounding her treasure. The piano contains three panels of old ^^"^^^ ^"
kid, embroidered, painted, and inserted, reminding one of Mrs. Alma-
Tadema*s piano, embellished by that lady's paintings, among which are
some passages of the old music of the old song, " Summer is a-comin*
in"; and on the three canvas panels of a large screen in the dining-
room Mrs. Zerega's facile and accomplished brush has made itself felt.
One of the panels displays what has been described as " the leonine
beauty of the sunflower," accompanied by the legend, " In all the
livery of summer's pride"; another, golden and purple grapes above
the inscription —
" For thee large bunches load the bending vine,
And the last blessings of the year are thine ; "
and the third, clusters of dogwood-blossoms, graced with Chaucer's lines —
" First lusty Spring all dight in leaves of Flowres,
That freshly budded and new Blooms did beare."
Each panel is about five feet high and two feet wide. The plain
pine frame of a small square mirror has been painted by the same
clever and sympathetic hand, on a shaded background of gold, with
a group of swallows in flight, and with a garland of nasturtiums
which in one corner leave the frame to twine upward against the
glass.
The walls of this drawing-room are covered with a paper of a flo- flails of
^ dravjtng'
riated pattern of blue on gold, with a frieze five feet deep of raised room.
gold, meeting a ceiling that is paneled off in solid color to harmonize
with the brocaded velvet on satin of the coverings of the Pompadour
furniture. On the back of one of the chairs appear Hymen's torch
and Cupid's bow ; and the visitor, who is soon to be introduced to
some Latin mottoes in the stained-glass windows of the drawing-room,
would scarcely be surprised if somewhere in the region of this amatory
chair he should see inscribed such lines as these from the walls of a
house in Pompeii :
" guis
^^ Artistic Houses.
room.
" Quis amat valeat ; pereat qui
Nescit amare ; bis tanto pereat
guisquis amare vetat."
Perhaps the words are actually there.
Dining- But let US no longer forbear to enter the dining-room. It is an
extension to the house, and the problem to make it light enough was
solved by the happy idea of cutting ofF the four corners, thus making
the apartment octagonal, and getting so much light that the curtains
are necessarily kept drawn — or, as Professor Dowden would say:
'^ The blinds are dropped, and softly now and slowly
The day flows in and floats ; a calm retreat
Of tempered light where fair things fair things meet."
Each corner contains a window, and above the rod that holds the cur-
tain stretches a band of stained glass of highly-decorative design, in
the center of which shines one of the four Latin words, "//c>//?//a///a/,"
^^ Amicitia^'' ^^Familia^'' ^^Prosperitas'' — a felicitous selection. The fur-
niture is of mahogany, and the mantel, adorned with porcelain, and
reaching almost to the frieze, has been handsomely designed in the
same material. All the chairs are durably upholstered in stamped
leather of a tone to match that of the mahogany wood- work. The
facing of the fire-place, which here, again, is hospitably destitute of a
fender, represents hunting-scenes. The mahogany sideboard is enriched
with carved panels, and also with bronze panels in low-relief. The
iFail- wall-paper is of dead gold stamped, and the fine Eastern rug on the
paper.
floor has much of the feeling of those old Smyrna carpets " whose
graceful patterns and deftly-associated tints left nothing to be desired " —
if we may cite the excellent authority of Mr. Mark Pattison. But
no description of Mrs. Zerega's house would approximate completeness.
Alluring unless special mention were made of the alluring vista that greets the
spectator who stands in the hall and gazes thence through openings of
dexterously-parted portihes away back into the distance, trying at last,
but unsuccessfully, to discern in the magnificent pier-glass at the farthest
extremity of the dining-room a limit to the vision.
vista.
^a^
MR. OSWALD OTTENDORFER'S PAVILION.
On the walls of the Alhambra is an inscription to the efFect that
he who attentively studies them will reap the benefit of a commentary
on the entire art of decoration ; and the leading authority on Moresque
ornamentation (Mr. Owen Jones) enumerates some general principles
which seem equally characteristic of the interior of Mr. Oswald Otten-
dorfer's beautiful Pavilion on the east bank of the North River, just
above Manhattan ville. In the first place, says Mr. Jones, the Moors Moorish
1 1 1 ITT decoration.
always noted the difference between decorating a construction and con-
structing a decoration. Their decoration is a natural growth from the
construction of a building, and, still further, it carries out the idea of
that construction in every detail of the ornamentation of the surface.
Secondly, all lines grow out of each other in gradual undulations ; all
transitions of curved lines from curved, or of curved lines from straight,
are gradual, thus never disturbing the sense of repose. Thirdly, the
general forms were first produced ; these were subdivided by general
lines, and their interstices filled in with ornamentation, which orna-
mentation was again subdivided and enriched. By this means, when
seen at a distance, the general form is distinct, and the nearer you
approach the more you find to study and to admire. Fourthly, har-
mony of form was preserved by the proper balancing and contrast of
the straight, the inclined, and the curved. To have used straight lines
only would have been monotonous. Fifthly, all lines proceed from a
parent stem : every ornamentation can be traced back to its branch
and root, and tells a reason for its existence, as in the case of the
various parts of the surface of a vine-leaf. Moreover, in proceeding
from
J
68 Artistic Houses.
from the parent stem they follow the principle of radiation, as do
leaves on a twig. Sixthly, all junctions of curved lines with curved,
or of curved lines with straight, are tangential to one another, as in a
feather or a leaf. This gives the added charm of grace. Seventhly,
those curves are considered the most agreeable which are of the higher
order — such as the conic sections, instead of circles and compass-work.
The means whereby they are produced are not obvious, therefore the
curves themselves are not monotonous. Segments of circles are very
seldom to be found in the moldings and curved lines of the Alhambra
or the Parthenon. Eighthly, the treatment of ornament is conventional.
Law of since the Moors were forbidden by their creed to represent living forms
color in
Moorish whether animal or vegetable. Ninthly, color was used to assist in the
decoration.
development of form, as a means of bringing out the constructive
features of a building : limiting their palette to the primary colors,
blue, red, and yellow, whenever stucco-work was to be decorated (in
Mr. Ottendorfer's Pavilion flock-paper, specially designed, is used on
the walls), the choice of each color was with reference to the archi-
tectural form to which it was to be applied, care being taken to select
for it the position where it would best be seen, and would most add
to the general effect. Accordingly, red (the strongest color of the
three) was put on molded work where it might be softened by
shadow, but never on the surface ; blue in the shade, and gold on all
surfaces exposed to light. These colors are never allowed to impinge
upon each other, but are separated either by white bands, or by the
shadow caused by the relief of the ornament itself. Finally, as the
rays of light neutralize each other in the proportions of three yellow,
five red, and eight blue, the blue always occupies the largest area,
equaling in quantity the red and the yellow — more than equaling it,
in the Alhambra, where yellow is replaced by gold, which tends toward
a reddish-yellow.
No pleasanter suburban retreat in summer is easily conceivable than
Mr. Ottendorfer's Pavilion, with its strictly Moresque mural decoration,
and its handsome hangings, divans, and other fixtures, all in consonance
with
Mr. Oswald Ottendorfer' s Pavilion. 69
with the central artistic idea of the structure. From the spacious
piazza, or through the lofty windows, the eye reaches northward along
the glorious Hudson a distance of at least twenty miles, southward as
far as the mouth of the river, and westward directly across the shining
surface to the Palisades— a view that might have inspired the pen of
Washington Irving, who celebrated in his choicest prose the extensive
prospects and enchanting scenery commanded by the Moorish palace.
" I have just been seated," he writes, " in one of the balconies, enjoy- -^?^'
LI r 1 Ml* from the
mg the close of a brilliant day. The sun, as he sank behind the Aihamhra.
purple mountains of Alhama, sent a stream of effulgence up the valley
of the Darro, that spread a melancholy pomp over the ruddy towers of
the Alhambra; while the Vega, covered with a slight sultry vapor that
caught the setting ray, seemed spread out in the distance like a golden
sea. Not a breath of air disturbed the stillness of the hour, and
though the faint sound of music and merriment now and then arose
from the gardens of the Darro, it but rendered more impressive the
ornamental silence of the pile which overshadowed me. It was one of
those hours and scenes in which memory asserts an almost magical
power; and, like the evening sun beaming on these moldering towers,
sends back her retrospective rays to light up the glories of the past.
As I sat watching the effect of the declining day upon the Moorish
pile, I was led into a consideration of the light, elegant, and volup-
tuous character prevalent throughout its internal architecture, and to
contrast it with the grand but gloomy solemnity of the Gothic edifices
reared by the Spanish conquerors. The very architecture thus bespeaks
the opposite and irreconcilable natures of the two warlike people who
so long battled here for the mastery of the Peninsula, ^y degrees, I
fell into a course of musing upon the singular fortunes of the Arabian
or Morisco Spaniards, whose whole existence is as a tale that is told,
and certainly forms one of the most anomalous yet splendid episodes in
history." Mr. Ottendorfer's European guests invariably tell him that no
such glad view as that from his Moorish Pavilion ever greeted their
eyes before.
The
J
70 Artistic Houses.
The interior of this unique and costly structure, which passengers
on the North River boats are not likely soon to forget, is about twenty
feet wide, thirty-four feet long, and thirty-two feet high ; the exterior,
about forty-five feet by forty-five; and with especial felicity of choice
Mr. Ottendorfer has caused to be inscribed, at intervals, on the ceiling
the following verses from a classic German poet :
^^rses « Allah ist gross, schoen ist die Welt,
from a
German Wer ihn verehrt und hoch sie haelt
pet.
Wird durch Genuss der Zweiten
In des Ersten Schoosse gleiten.
" Wer sich beurtheilt nur nach sich,
Gelangt zu falschen schliissen ;
Du kannst so wenig kennen dich
Als du dich selbst kannst kiissen."
Which may be rendered : " God is great ; beautiful is the world. He
who honors Him and values it will, through the enjoyment of the
second, glide into the lap of the first. He who judges himself only
by himself reaches false conclusions; you can as little know yourself
as you can kiss yourself."
r
/
1
MR. W. G. DOMINICK'S HOUSE.
Standing in the beautiful dining-room of Mr. W. G. Dominick's
house, at No. 35 East Fifty-seventh Street, and looking southward
through two arched screens until his eye rests upon the lustrous hues
of the stained-glass transoms of the front bay-window of the drawing- Charming
perspec-
room, which shine above an admirable marble statue by R. H. Park, tree.
the visitor is treated to the influences of a fascinating perspective, in
which the varied and multiform scheme of surroundings blends into a
truly homogeneous ensemble. The old blue tone immediately around
him passes easily into the olive tone of the library and the distant gold
tone of the drawing-room, gathering itself up for a concentrated effect
in some of the colors of the transom; while the very pictures on the
walls strive, without struggling, and with entire success, to contribute
their accessory beauty. There, in the drawing-room, hangs E. L. Paintings
by fVeeks
Weeks's "Eastern Gate" — bright-costumed Arabs in front of the arched ^r;^
entrance to the court of an Eastern dwelling, whose facade, decorated
in tile-work and other ornamental enrichment, is one of those capital
pieces of still-life painting for which this American artist has already
gained international celebrity ; and, not far away, Julien Dupre's Juiien
Dupri.
" Harvesters " — a young French peasant-woman, with her two-pronged
wooden rake, rivaling the industry of her companion of the sterner sex
in a sunny hay-field. The date (1882) reminds one that the work is
contemporaneous with that other example of the same painter, " Au
Paturage," which was greatly admired at the last Salon^ especially by
the professional spectator; and when Mr. Dominick's picture is con-
templated with reference to this other one, the strong young harvester
seems
1
72 Artistic Houses.
seems to be a sister of the brawny farm-hand who bends backward her
fine figure in the effort to restrain the too eager advance of a marvel-
ously-modeled cow in a pasture. The "Harvesters" has many qualities
Portieres, that the elder Dupre would find pleasure in appreciating. The portiere
of the opening into the hall, its deep-blue plush adorned with applique-
work of gold on crimson, seeks an echo in the crimson and turquoise
upholstery of the furniture, and finds it in the crimson and gold of
foliated applique ornament of the portiere under the arch-screen of the
dining-room; and everywhere one sees traces of a most skillful and
subtile devotion to the cause of chromatic harmony. Through the
stained-glass window in the ceiling, the daylight and the superimposed
gaslight softly steal upon the ebonized book-cases, the writing-desk, and
the walnut mantel of the library, never loath to encounter the mel-
low tones of Zligel's flock of sheep, and the red and white roses of
Longpre fits.
Decorative But the most important decorative scheme of the house is, undoubt-
edly, the octagonal north side of the dining-room. At the extreme
left, and covering the entrance to the butler's pantry, hangs a pair of
handsome Turkoman portihes^ which balance a similar pair at the ex-
treme right, directly in front of a window. A mahogany mantel oc-
cupies the center, and just above it glows a splendid window of stained
glass, presenting two noble figures plucking fruit and typifying " Au-
tumn." In most houses, of course, such a feature would be impossi-
ble, because of the presence of the chimney, but here the flues diverge
to the right and left after leaving the fire-opening and ascend on either
side of the stained-glass window, the wall-space covering them being
occupied by narrow mirrors, in front of which hang brass lanterns,
whose globes of pearl and ruby tones are suffused with light from the
burners within. Above one of these mirrors is an old bronze plaque;
above the other, a novel Japanese plaque of teak-wood inlaid in bronze,
pearl, and ivory, to tell the fable of an impoverished married couple
who, having been led to a resolution to bury their live child in order
to be able to supply their aged parents with the necessaries of life,
find,
y^i
Mr. W. G. Dominic k's House. 73
find, in the grave which they have dug, a pot of gold. Is it the
Japanese version of the Hebrew story of Abraham's sacrifice of his son
Isaac at the call of duty?
All the wood- work and furniture of this room, especially the gen- ^rt objects
. J 1 J . I . . . ^ in dining'
erous sideboard with its delicate carvings, are of mahogany, and there is room.
an abundance of rare porcelains and bronzes, not only in the cabinets
in the two recesses, but on the walls, where hang also a large land-
scape by Sonntag, and a superb steel plaque inlaid with gold and cop-
per, engraved by E. Bauduer. The Eastern rug on the parquetry floor
contrasts its sober richness with the fresh and clear painting of flowers,
birds, fruit, and corn on the satin of the three-paneled screen — a work
of art from the clever brush of a lady-amateur which deserves in every
respect the honor that it receives from Mr. Dominick*s guests.
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^
MR. J. PIERPONT MORGAN'S HOUSE.
To the Greeks there was no gulf between the useful and the beau-
tiful : useful things were beautiful, and beauty went hand-in-hand with
use. So one feels in Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan's mansion, at the north-
east corner of Thirty-sixth Street and Madison Avenue. Entering on J"^^ '^^s^'-
Thirty-sixth Street by the front doors of Circassian walnut, paneled
and with a lion's head carved in high-relief, the visitor stands on the
mosaic floor of the vestibule, under a ceiling of the same general char-
acter, and in front of two stained-glass doors, which slide apart to ad-
mit him into the hall, where, from a floor, again mosaic, he proceeds
up several steps on the left to the main level of the house, leaving be-
hind him in recesses on either side of the vestibule a coat-room and a
dressing-room, which, when their doors are shut, do not seem to exist
at all. The staircase, of American white oak, carved simply, and in-
spired by several primitive moiiff, is three stories high, and lighted by a
dome of stained glass, from the factory of Mr. John Lafarge.
Facing the front door, on the main level of the building, an oaken
mantel-piece in a generous recess serves as a simple and suitable frame
for a large cartoon — an original by Kaulbach. A short flight of stairs 1'hefiall
leads to the first landing, on the right of which rises gracefully a triple case.
arch, through whose spandrels of stained glass jewels in a lace- work of j^
gilt wires the electric light or the sun shines with fine effect, the !^^
whole forming a screen of unostentatious and delicate beauty. On its
right, directly over the front porch, is a small conservatory filled with
palms and other plants. The walls of the hall are covered throughout
with stamped flock paper, painted a pale Venetian red — the present
fashionable
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76
Artistic Houses.
fashionable terra-cotta color of ladies' gowns. The lighting is abundant,
and soft by day and by night.
the draw- Stretching the entire length of the Madison Avenue side of the
ing-room. °
building, and approached on the main level at the left, is the spacious
and charming drawing-room, whose Pompeiian inspiration is felt at
once, although nothing like it . can be seen in Pompeii, nor in that ex-
cellent example of Pompeiian decoration, the house of Germanicus, at
Rome. A breath from the Graeco-Roman epoch of Italia seems to
have left its faint impress on the walls, or rather its faint fragrance in
the atmosphere. That is all. No slavish copying of another dwelling
or another period, ancient or modern, and no demonstrative self-asser-
tion; but only a mild gayety of expression amid the aroma of perfect
taste which prevails alike in the modest wood-work painted in ivory
color, sprinkled with gold, and spangled with decorations ; in the ceil-
ing, which curves down to the frieze of wood, and is ornamented with
a net-work of ropes in relief, and a suggestion (not an imitation) of
light-colored mosaic; in the frieze itself, with its free-running orna-
ment of Pompeiian red, and with parts of its carving touched up with
gold; in the walls, divided by pilasters whose color corresponds with
the frieze, and upholstered in Japanese stuffs worked in silk and gilt
thread, and resplendent with applique work of Persian embroidery; in
the chairs, covered with Japanese gold-thread embroidered on a black
ground; in the divans and cushions of cherry plush and old Persian
embroidery; in the glass cabinets of ivory-colored wood- work to match
the furniture, filled with rare and costly bric-h-brac. The mantel-piece
comes out in elliptic form, its top carrying along the line of the frieze,
and supported by two square and tapering columns, its lower shelves
on either side held up by caryatides with outstretched wings, reflected
in the beveled glass panels that serve as mirrors. Opposite the en-
trance-door is the bay-window, seventeen feet wide, surrounded by low
divans. The checkered parquetry floor is entirely covered with antique
Persian rugs of rare quality and color. This drawing-room is unique.
Its possibilities seem tireless, and the presence of oil-paintings by such
masters
Mantel-
piece.
Mr. y. Pierpont Morgan's House. 77
masters of color as Diaz, Hamon, Vannutelli, Morages, Villegas, Mare-
chal, and others, lends a gentle graciousness quite in sympathy with
their surroundings. The Diaz, especially, instinct with luminosity in its Paintings
by Diaz
suavely-blended tints, is one of the most pleasing examples to be seen and Corot.
anywhere. A quite extraordinary Corot, it may be added, beautifies
the hall with a characteristic dawn-scene; and a portrait of Junius S.
Morgan, Esq., of London, life-size, half-length, of rare excellence, and
superb treatment of light, is a leading attraction of the library.
The reception-room opens from the hall at the side of the fire-
place, and is in the Japanese manner, with wood-work of oak stained
red. Low book-cases follow the walls, and over the mantel-piece and
doors appear shelves for bric-h-brac. The ceiling, segmental barrel Ceiling of
vaulted, has a ground of gold, and is partly penetrated with round room.
transoms, that run from the circular openings of the bay-window, in
which the room terminates. The Japanese stuffs with which the walls
are hung present harmonious tones of broken color on a yellowish-dove
ground.
Returning to the hall, we pass along a few feet, and leave it at
our right by entering Mrs. Morgan's morning-room, on the Thirty-sixth
Street side. It is a library in ebonized oak, the staining allowing the
grain of the wood to assert itself with natural strength. Above the
shelves, which are eight feet high, runs the deep frieze of scroll-design
on gold; and to the moldings, that bound its upper border, the ceil-
ing comes down in stenciled scroll-work of light colors on gold. Olive
plush covers the furniture and the wall-spaces of this delightful retreat,
whose influence is not dissipated as we proceed into the principal
library of the mansion.
Here the wood- work is of San Domingo mahogany, with a wain- '^he u-
hrary.
scoting ten and a half feet high. The ceiling is divided into octagon
panels about two feet wide, although six of them are wider, and con-
tain allegorical oil-figures of History and Poetry, each attended by two
acolytes. The borders of the smaller panels are molded and picked out
in green and red gold, the panels themselves being decorated with a
Celtic
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78 Artistic Houses.
Celtic fretwork of cords, and the walls carrying out the Celtic motive
of the ceiling on a darker ground. In a deep, arched recess in the
northern side of the room, the arch supported by columns, is set the
fire-place, flanked by seats, with its floor raised a step above that of the
rest of the apartment and tiled in small pattern, and with its facing
of small, square tiles of blue and ochre. Near the southeast corner is
an immense window with plate-glass, eight feet wide, and on either
side of it are recesses for bric-h-brac and pictures, the latter standing
against a background of peacock-green stamped plush. The furniture
of the room is covered with the same material, plain. A stained-glass
screen, designed by Mr. John Lafarge, separates the library from the
conservatory.
'^he con- xhis inviting resort is about sixty feet long and ten feet wide, such
servatory, ^ jo
surfaces of its walls as are not tiled being covered with moss, grown
over with orchids and climbing plants. Its eastern side is banked up,
in front of the glass panes, with flowers in pots. The entire floor,
wainscoting, and frieze, are tiled. In a recess in the middle of the
west wall stands a fountain, built of tiles framed in black marble,
the water issuing from a bronze lion's mouth in a fan-like stream, and
also from a circular series of openings in the center of the basin.
Roman- We may proceed through this magnificent conservatory to the very
ing-room. notable Romanesque dining-room of Mr. Morgan's house, where his
guests are introduced to a paneled wainscoting of English oak about
eight feet high, and walls painted a dull red, and take their places
at the table beneath a sky-light about twelve feet square, through the
stained glass of which the electric light shines with a gentle glow.
The ceiling, divided into large panels by heavy beams, which rest upon
engaged columns of Sienna marble that are carried again by carved
brackets projecting from the wainscot, represents all varieties of gilded
sea-shells, each variety picked out with glazes of color that give it iri-
descence. The horizontal subdivision of the wood- work forms a frieze
Fire-place divided by pilasters at either side of the marble columns. The spacious
in dining' ^
room, and generous oaken fire-place, about twelve feet wide, ten feet high,
and
Mr. y. Pierpont Morgan s House. 79
and three feet deep, with two Sienna marble columns, has a molded
Sienna facing, and a hearth of marble mosaic. The sideboard, of no
meager dimensions, is built into the wall; and the large, oaken chairs
are upholstered in leather, stamped after the Portuguese manner. In
this dining-room are also paintings by Church, Schaefels, and, above
all, one by Greuze, recently received from Florence, and considered
equal to any specimen by that renowned artist in this country.
In the butler's pantry adjoining, one notices the two-story burglar-
and fire-proof safe, and the two-story closets, with gallery. A private
hydraulic elevator is approached directly from the main hall, its door
refusing, in the interest of safety, to open unless the elevator is opposite.
Mrs. Morgan's bedroom, the principal apartment on the second ^^^; ^^''-
floor, twenty-eight feet by eighteen, with an alcove five feet deep room.
for the bed, and a canopy of striped-silk stuflF, is finished in mahog-
any, with brass moldings, in a light and graceful style, with bits of
delicate carving. The furniture is covered with a stuff of sage-green
velvet, forming a lace-work pattern over a cherry silk ground, which is
echoed in the hangings. The ceiling shows decorations of hand-painted
flowers, leaves, and spider-webs on a delicate gray ground, and the
walls are hung with a stamped paper in two colors of gold, the dado
being darker. Bronze tiles make a frame for the fire-place, the open-
ing of which is surmounted by a small shelf or molding of red mar-
ble. On one side of the room a door opens to Mrs. Morgan's dress-
ing-room — on another side, to Mr. Morgan's dressing-room — each apart-
ment most comfortably provided with the best modern conveniences, and
tiled four and a half feet high, up to the Persian stuffs that adorn the
walls. The sewing-room, across the hall, contains spacious and airy
dress-closets.
Miss Morgan's room, next to her mother's dressing-room, is finished Miss Mor-
gan's
in ebonized cherry, with brass moldings, and with furniture to corre- room.
spond. The walls are hung with blue-and-white cloth, and the ceil-
ing is decorated in blue, white, and gold, in general harmony with the
rest of the room, the furniture being covered with the same material as
the
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Artistic Houses.
Guest'
room.
Edison
electric
light.
the walls. This room is considered one of the most successful features
of the house.
The walls of the boys' room, on the other side of the hall, are
covered with French stamped chintz, the furniture upholstered in the
same material, of a light tapestry color. The wood-work is of antique
oak.
The guest-room is splendid with polished rose-wood. Its ceiling,
done in diiferent colors of gold, with stencil-work in light colors over
the whole, and its walls and furniture covered with a neutral chintz-
stuif, produce a rich and beautiful effect. Two three-quarter beds of
rose- wood vie in their sheen with the glistening, paneled doors.
On the third floor is the school-room, and a gymnasium in the
basement, furnished in the Harvard style, offers wholesome recreation
to the youthful scholars.
Mr. Pierpont Morgan's house, decorated and furnished throughout
under the personal supervision of Mr. Christian Herter, is distinguished
for being the first private dwelling in New York City into which the
Edison electric light has been successfully introduced. Each room is
supplied with it, and, in order to illuminate a room, you have simply
to turn a knob as you enter. By turning a knob near the head of his
bed, Mr. Morgan is able to light instantaneously the hall and every
room on the first floor, basement, and cellar — a valuable precaution in
case of the arrival of burglars. The power that generates the elec-
tricity is a steam-engine in the stable. In conclusion, it is just to say
that this beautiful, elegant, and sumptuous mansion is even more nota-
ble for the air of comfort which every room wears, and for the atten-
tion to comfort which every fixture and arrangement displays.
MR. EDWARD N. DICKERSON'S HOUSE.
If the raison d'Stre of a work of art is to be beautiful, and if
beauty may be found in the skillful adaptation of means to ends, then
certainly it is not inappropriate, while describing an artistic dwelling,
to give prominence to those scientific features which make for hygiene
and happiness. In Mr. Edward N. Dickerson's house, at No. 64. East
Thirty-fourth Street, both science and art hold sway, the former having
addressed itself especially and with fixedness of purpose to certain mat-
ters of atmospheric purity and personal safety. Take, for instance, the ^y^^^^ ^f
ventilation of the hall-way, and ask yourself why, as you ascend to the
fifth story, the column of air, seventy feet high, becomes gradually
cooler instead of warmer, as might naturally have been expected.
That the fact is so, begins to be obvious as soon as you leave the sec-
ond story, and in connection with it is the other fact of an ascending
current so vigorous as to be felt when the hand is thrust beyond the
balustrade. The higher you go, the cooler you become; because the
air is carried up and off so rapidly through openings in the stained-
glass sky-light, that its pressure is diminished and its rarefaction in-
creased, the higher it gets; and rarefaction is a cooling process. The
reason why the air is carried up so rapidly is, that plenty of it has
been introduced below.
Indeed, every room in this house has special ventilators for chang-
ing its atmosphere every few minutes. A register in the wall, per-
forming its functions so well that an unfolded handkerchief if put in
front will be blown away fi-om it, is answered by two other registers,
one in the center of the ceiling and another near the floor, as distant
as
^
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^2 Artistic Houses.
I
as possible from the inflow, through which the outflowing current passes.
Sanitary And if you lift the knob of the closet in the bath-rooms, to allow the
provision.
water to stream into the soil-pipe, the sweep of air is so strong in the
same direction that the flames of a lighted piece of paper, held near
the opening, are drawn irresistibly away from you. What chance for
sewer-gas to escape into the room, when the draught out of it is so
strong? This particular sanitary provision was invented by Mr. Dick-
erson, and it makes the bath-rooms as pure as any other apartment.
Mr. Dickerson, before constructing his dwelling, seems to have set up
certain vital conditions and built a house around them.
His penchant for science appears elsewhere also. On the fourth
''Science- floor, just above his private library, is the " Science-Room," where, in
room.''
front of comfortably-disposed divans and settees, is situated the most
powerful Holtz's electric machine in the world. Behind it hangs a
large sheet of white cloth, on which are thrown pictures from an im-
mense stereopticon fed by hydrogen and oxygen introduced from the
cellar. Various scientific instruments, more or less complex, are seen in
other parts of the room, while on the roof is an astronomical observa-
tory where Mr. Dickerson, during the late transit of Venus, took obser-
vations that fell between the two observations made at the National
Observatory in Washington.
The elevator is provided with a very clever fixture, patented by
Mr. Dickerson, which renders impossible the starting of the car while a
door is open, and the opening of a door when the car is not directly
opposite it. In the basement, and beneath each coil of steam-pipe
Air-filters, that furnishes the registers with hot air, is a filter of cotton-batting, say
six feet square, through which the cold air from out-of-doors passes and
is cleansed before being heated for warming the house. So successful
is this filter that when the sunbeams shine into any of the rooms — and
they very often do so — no dancing particles of dust are discernible
within them. The amount of dirt thus kept from tainting the atmos-
phere is large enough to blacken the under part of the cotton-batting
in a few days.
Another
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Afr. Edward N. Dickerson's House. 83
Another invention of importance is Mr. Dickerson's plan for econo-
mizing the heat in his furnace to such an extent that for his immense Economic
heat meth-
house he needs only thirty-five tons of coal a year. He has succeeded ods.
in so detaining the heat within the furnace until utilized in the pro-
duction of steam, that the smoke-stack is cool enough to admit of your
putting your hand upon it without discomfort. Not only so, but even
the interior of the tubes of the boiler, at the point where the hot air
and smoke leave them to go into the smoke-stack, is sufficiently low in
temperature to allow the insertion of your finger without annoyance, the
thermometer showing in those usually very hot places only 180^ on an
average, and never more than 212°. This notable economic result is
obtained by placing within the furnace, and about eighteen inches above
the level of the fire, a series of parallel one-inch pipes, connected at
the ends with a water-leg on each side of the fire ; and from one of
these water-legs a single pipe proceeds upward and empties its con-
tents through an opening at the top of the boiler, while at the same
time the opposite "leg" is supplied at the bottom from the lowest
part of the boiler. The consequence is, that the water directly over
the fire is constantly making a circuit from boiler to water-back and
thence to boiler again, exhausting the heat that otherwise would go up
the chimney, the boiler itself acting principally the part of a reservoir
for the water that has been heated over the fire below and passed up
into it.
We now proceed to the decorative aspects of the interior of this
wholesome dwelling. The wood-work of the main hall and staircase
on every floor is of solid mahogany, and on the lowest floor the wain-
scot is paneled to the ceiling. Ascending one flight, leaving behind
us the reception-room, the toilet-room, and the billiard-room, we are
greeted by the quiet, low-toned harmonies of the drawing-room. Both Dra-wtng-
wood-work and furniture are of satin-wood enriched with ebony mold-
ings; panels of light-blue satin damask cover the walls, and a gold
net-work spreads itself over the pale-gray ground of the ceiling, the
lines arranged so as to give the latter a concave effect. It is a most
winning
room.
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^4- Artistic Houses.
winning apartment, and, as for the ornaments of porcelains and hric-a-
bracy one scarcely knows what to admire the most — the two immense
^rt- cloisonn^ vases on bronze stands of bending caryatides; the exquisitely
delicate Royal Worcester vase, covered by a glass case to protect its
extreme fragility; the vase of egg-shell porcelain, jeweled by William
Ball, of London, after a fashion not likely to be equaled; the Satsuma
vase, with its lateral ornamentation of lava-like substance through which
the air seems to have bubbled; or the Louis guinze center-piece of
metallic silver-work on blue porcelain, a relic of some old palace where
it officiated as the candelabra for a dining- table. Each of these works
is the best specimen of its kind, and possesses artistic and mechanical
interest sufficient to justify several pages of description.
All the floors are parquetry of intricate patterns ; and here in the
morning-room, furnished throughout in ebony, stands a center-table
whose top is of Mexican onyx. Eastman Johnson's " First Letter," a
boy writing at a table with little ease of manner; George H. Bough-
ton's "Repose," an interior with figure of a grandmother holding a
sleeping child on her lap; and S. J. Guy's "Baby's Bed-time," a quite
domestic genre — ^hang against the neutral tint of the flock-papered walls.
Silk portieres of old gold separate a triangular alcove, whose window
lights the room.
Curiosity A remarkable curiosity in wood-carving is the screen of the bay-
in wood- ^ • o /
carving, window of the dining-room, which adorned the Chinese booth of the
Centennial Exhibition. Birds and squirrels nestle among the foliage,
the pomegranates, and the grapes, along its entire length, and carvings
in relief, of multiform figures, trees, and houses, with plenteous inlay of
ivory, adorn the uprights. Several years might have been consumed in
the execution of this beautiful and very striking work. Beneath it
stands a noble piece of Japanese bronze. The deep-blue punch-bowl,
of Bohemian glass, on the dresser, was bought in Paris by Thomas
Jefferson, when he was United States Minister to France, and presented
by him to the Honorable Mahlon Dickerson, Secretary of the Navy,
and uncle to our host. So well ventilated is this hospitable dining-
room
Mr. Edward N. Dickersons House. 85
room that a score of guests may smoke beneath its ceiling of Chinese
decorated panels, and immediately afterward all traces of their act pass
off through the apertures above and below.
Mr. Dickerson's library, of black and French walnut, with paneled J*^ ^^-
ceiling of embossed leather, contains G. P. A. Healy's oil-painting of
an historic scene. Mr. Lincoln, accompanied by Admiral Porter, has
gone to Hampton Roads by steamer to consult with Sherman, who has
left his army in North Carolina confronting Johnston, and with Grant,
whose army was investing Richmond. It is a council of war in the
cabin of the vessel. Sherman, his hand uplifted to emphasize the
statement, declares that there must be one more battle; but Lincoln,
whose care-worn features the artist has drawn to the life, replies sadly
and firmly, "Too much blood has been shed already." The value of
this interesting picture will not decrease with the receding years. It is
the original painting, half size, from which a life-size copy was made
by Healey, which is now in Chicago. The letters-patent awarded to
Mr. Dickerson's grandfather for an invention — the eleventh patent issued i^^^toric
by our Government — bears the signatures of George Washington and
Thomas Jefferson, and these signatures are repeated in a certificate of
membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, of which the Father of
his Country was the president. Another interesting historic curiosity is
the head of the yellow-pine figure-head of General Jackson, which once
adorned the bow of the United States frigate Constitution in Boston
Harbor, but which, during the intense political excitement of 1835, was
sawed off by a zealous young druggist of that city, who had rowed out
to the frigate and climbed up her chain-cable during a night of Cim-
merian darkness. Mr. Dickerson has honored this relic with a place
on the mantel of his spacious and well-lighted billiard-room.
curiosities.
1
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MJi. LOUIS C. TIFFANY'S HALL.
G
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i
MR. LOUIS C. TIFFANY'S LIBRARY.
MR. LOUIS C. TIFFANY'S DINING-ROOM,
''
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MR. LOUIS C. TIFFANY'S DRAWING-ROOM.
.r. ' "^ ''''''' /S , ' ■:' .\. ' ' - • ' ' . ' -"" ""y " ' "
,mi i |>
MRS. A. T. STEWART'S HALL.
l\
MRS. A. T. STEWART'S RECEPTION-ROOM.
If •.■ .1i tWi'i.ai
INd
MRS. A. T. STEWARTS LIBRARY,
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MRS. A. T. STEWART'S MUSIC-ROOM.
I
MRS. A. T. STEWART'S DRAWING-ROOM.
I
MRS. A. T. STEWART'S PICTURE GALLERY.
MRS. A. T. STEWARTS PICTURE-GALLERY (Second View).
n
MRS. A. T. STEWART'S BED-ROOM,
/v
Il^
X
GENERAL GRANT'S PARLOR.
II
GENERAL GRANT S LIBRARY.
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MR. D. L. EINSTEIN'S MAIN HALL.
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MR. D. L EINSTEIN'S ENTRANCE HALL.
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MR. GEORGE F. BAKER'S HALL.
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JUDGE HILTON'S DINING-ROOM.
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MR. FREDERICK F. THOMPSON'S HALL
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MR. FREDERICK E. THOMPSOA-S LIBRARY.
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MR. FREDERICK F. THOMPSON'S DINING-ROOM.
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MR. FREDERICK F. THOMPSON'S DINING-ROOM, WITH CONSERVATORY.
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MR. GEORGE KEMP'S SALON.
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MR. GEORGE KEMP'S HALL.
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MR. F. W. HURTT'S LIBRARY.
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MRS. JOHN A. ZEREGAS DRAWING-ROOM.
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MRS. JOHN A. ZEREGA'S DINING-ROOM.
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MR. IV. G. DOMINICK'S DINING-ROOM,
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MR. J. PIERPONT MORGAN'S STAIRCASE.
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MR, EDWARD N. DICKERSCN'S DRAWING-ROOM.
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MR. EDWARD N. DICKERSON'S LIBRARY.
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MR. EDWARD N. DICKERSON'S DINING-ROOM.
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